Audio Note Kit 1

300B SET amps do tend to sound a bit like that but there are some which sound far less soggy/bloated/euphonic than the Kit 1.The Kit 1 is certainly at the soggy end of the scale .I had a really cheap Chinese 300B SET that sounded like that too.The Elekit 300B SETs are much better.Surprisingly good actually .Still very speaker dependent but that is the nature of low power/ current drive/ high output impedance amplifiers .Especially those with no negative feedback.

@jtgofish when I first purchased the ANkit1 it had a pair of sophia mesh 300b tubes. These sounded very slow. Almost like syrup, albeit a very analog sounding syrup. After switching to the Genalex Gold Lions 300bs, it became much better. I think the final sound of the kit1 is very tube dependent. Love the amp though and dont see a upgrade in the near future. Fitted it with a upgraded power cord and synergestic research orange fuse. Both offered substantial benefits. My next upgrade will be new output transformers for the amp. I like the ability to upgrade parts when time/$ permits, and this amp if perfect for that.

Better to spend the money on having a variable negative feedback control fitted.I have owned SETs with that option installed and it really helps fine tune the sound I imagine the Kit 1 has zero negative feedback and if you can dial in more feedback that would be most likely to both improve its control of speakers and lower distortion.Too much and you lose image depth but there is usually a sweet point that is worth finding.

Just a question here--I hope this is the right place to put it.  The Kit 1 originally appeared in the mid 90s I think.  I am wondering if it is time to at least evaluate if not replace some of the caps in an AN of 20-25 yrs?

@drrnc2 I will say my Kit 1 was built in 2010, and I've considered changing caps out of sheer OCD. If it was 20+ years old it would be the first thing I would do. I haven't done it yet, but someday I will. I have the AN copper film caps in mine. I will replace to the AN Silver capacitors when needed. They are pricey, but im sure worth it. Ive actually gone all out on my Kit 1 tweak wise. If anyone's interested ill give a list of things done to the amp, all of which has significantly helped the sound of the amplifier. The only things I see left are better ccore transformers and the silver caps.