2. amps-preamps
  3. 182799-20132

SET amplifier (for AvantGarde Duo's-original) recommendations

Hello all,
I inherited the above speaker and I have been really enjoying them.  I also have a pair of Thiel 3.7s- paired with pass labs xa60.5's (and it works!) which I also love albeit they are very different animals from the DUO's as you can imagine.

Right now I am focusing on the Duo's and have used them both with Pass Labs and a Mastersound Compact 845- both are great but there is something about the DUO's driven by this 845 SET that is magical.   The problem is that the 845 was dropped and developed a hum.  A technician went through it and managed to reduce the hum but it is still there and it bugs me- I am not sure if one of the transformers itself may have been damaged and that isn't really repairable at reasonable cost, though I will speak to Mastersound to hear their thoughts. I should add that the amp used to be dead quiet and generally Masetrsound makes superb amps- and are renown for their transformers.

So I am now starting to think about alternatives solutions- I would like to either stick to a SET of comparable quality (that is known to be relatively quiet with efficient speakers)- maybe a 300b type just for a change, or even an OTL.

There's a lot of stuff out there at the moment, take the Line Magnetics that are floating around (but would they compare to Mastersound in terms of build quality etc?) and I was hoping to get some insights on what you think would work well.  I have read a lot of reviews and while helpful at times I feel they are almost always positive and a little too generic  when comparing similar products.  I'd like to stick to a $5k or so budget (therefore I would look for something used).

pgastone
pgastone OP
77 posts
 

Thank you again!
@jonwolfpell 
Yes the AG's took ages to get right- particularly in getting the drivers to integrate properly.  And yes the jumpers have been upgraded.

@blisshifi 
Thanks again for all your help- I am now looking at all the options I had never really considered.

I am also having a conversation with a Decware owner and I will definitely contact Oliver Sayes,

wolf_garcia
6,602 posts
 

Dennis Had designs and builds some astonishingly great sounding SET stuff...I own a 2016 built SEP (Pentode) that's amazingly well made. More recently he's done 300B amps and other stuff, but it's hit or miss when he might list new amps on Ebay...utterly worth finding one. You contact him through Ebay.

mglik
887 posts
 

SET for sure.

The lower the power, the more the magic.

So, the 45 tube is the way to go.

Yamamoto makes a very good 45 amp. And they are very affordable.

Unless, you get a $5400 pair of the new Atma Class D.

Ralph uses them with his very efficient Class Audio  speakers.

They are very transparent, detailed with great bass.

larryi
3,718 posts
 

I like the Duo a lot.  It IS somewhat difficult to set up and get the bass to integrate well with the horns.  I don't think one ever can get great integration, but, there is no speaker system that is perfect in all respects.  While I do think the Duo would work well with a wide range of amps, they are worthy of the best.  There are plenty of good suggestions made above.  Everyone has their own taste, so you need to figure that part out for yourself.  In SET amps, I like 2a3 and 45 tubes myself.   Although power is not really an issue, I think you should also explore some lower-powered pushpull amps.  I like many 6L6 and KT 66 pushpull amps myself.  

While the Duo is extremely dynamic and lively so they don't need "help" in that aspect of their performance, I have heard them with OTL amps and they sounded quite amazing with such amps.  There aren't too many commercial OTL amps out there, but perhaps something from Atmasphere would be worthy of consideration.  I've heard a few of their amps that were a bit noisy with very high efficiency speakers, but, they are still good candidates.

More to discover