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SET amp comparable to First Watt SIT 1?

I’m currently planning to change my speakers to high efficiency horn from modern high end speakers (B&W). The speakers would be Volti horn speakers.

For amp, A friend of mine has First Watt SIT-1, which sounds great to my ears, but I have always been interested in tube SET, especially 300B. The problem is there are too many choices around, and I have read several online reviewers stated that 300B amps don’t sound as good as First Watt SIT 1, except extremely expensive ones with NOS WE300B.

Any suggestions?

My budget is around 7-15K. I don’t mind second hand ones, but I wish I could compare it with my friend’s SIT 1 before I decide to take it or not, so second hand unit is probably not an option.
tmare
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,230 posts
 
Tmare,
If at all possible I'd strongly urge you to directly compare a high quality 300b SET to an Atma-sphere amplifier and judge for yourself.  I've done this myself. Both amplifiers were very good but certainly  with different presentations. I preferred the 300b SET sound and the obvious point is opinions/preferences will of course vary.

I believe that either choice has excellent potential with your Volti speakers.
Charles
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
In Linear Tube Audio amps sounded very good to me at Capital Audiofest this past summer for very reasonable cost.  These use some proprietary output transformer magic  (David BEerning ZOTL technology)  in place of a traditional output transformer.    Models I see range from just a few to 40 or so watts per channel.



 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,230 posts
 
I've heard a David Berning amplifier but not the Linear Tube Audio amplifiers. I believe that they utilize a high radio  frequency transformer in place of a traditional output transformer. These are more reasonably priced than the David Berning line. 

There are many good lower power amplifiers to choose from when you have a high sensitivity/efficient speaker such as the Volti. 
Charles 
keithr
1,304 posts
 
I've had both types in my system - in the end, its personal preference. I preferred my Quads to the SITs, but could easily see the alternative.
tmare OP
44 posts
 
Thank you very much for so many comments. I read all the comments several times and added all the amp recommended here to my list. I have never heard of the most of brand name listed here, but they all look nice to me. btw, I would like to narrow my choice down to 300B SET only, because I have been already confused by way too many choices of tube amps... It would sound ridiculous for you guys, but "300B SET" has been a magic word for me for a long time.

What I still would like to know is, how I choose the right one from this list for the purpose of comparison with First Watt SIT. Do they all share the same 300B SET character enough for this purpose? And is it OK that I just (rather blindly) pick up one of them for demo?
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