For Cayin TA-30:"The Horn" or Fostex/Voight Pipe?


Hi Folks,

Just love running my Bizzy Bee modded Cayin TA-30 in triode using Mullard EL34s (both single-halo xf2). Right now I have old Snell J/II speaks and they're actually pretty nice, but over a year ago I heard a vintage Pilot tube amp connected to some vintage single-driver speaks and haven't forgotten the immediacy of them, so I'm thinking about "The Horn" or a DIY pair of Voigt Pipes with Fostex drivers (looked up Lowther prices and winced). Haven't heard either, only read nice things about each. And suggestions, or info about pros/cons? TIA!
shirasagi
The Mullards are great - all the usual adjectives apply like "liquid, smooth" and so forth. I think they're also more clear and give deeper bass. The thing I like best is that there's a greater difference between stock and Mullards when running the amp in SET mode than in P-P...the stockers sounded overly "tubey" to me in triode, with thick overblown bass, but the Mullards are just awesome in triode: clear with deep but nicely defined bass - really wonderful overall. Two caveats. One, I'm using Tesla ECC803S tubes in the 12AX7 positions (they are alleged to have been made with TFK tooling) that are very, very clear...so much so that at first I thought they were cool and hard-sounding in P-P. I'd have to guess they help give a kind of shimmering clarity in concert with the Mullards in triode. Second, as always, these results are speaker- and system-dependent and YMMV.
Shirasagi, check my reply to your post, that was posted as another thread by mistake!
Can't find it, Bemoptil! Bopped around looking at your "threads" and "answers" and was lost - my apologies, as I'm still a bit new to A'gon forums + maybe I'm momentarily brain-locked. Can you help? I'd like to see it! thx.
The Cayin TA-30 does not operate in SET (Single Ended Triode) mode. And it does not operate as triode in either push-pull or Single-Ended either. It supposedly (albiet compromised) can operate in SE (Single Ended) mode. Just because an amp is 'Single Ended' in its operation does not automatically mean it's operating as a triode. In fact, it doesn't even imply that it's a tube amp. Solid state amps may also be Single-Ended designs too.