What would you say is the better sounding SET amp?

It is a common mistake to attribute the sound of a particular amplifier to the output tube. There are so many other factors including the power supply, the driver tubes, the amp topology, the quality/type of the passive components, the amount of power required by the speakers, the other components and cables in the system, the output transformers, and many others; that trying to describe the sound of an amp based only on the output tube requires extensive listening to a wide variety of amps in a wide variety of systems to even begin to form an opinion on a particular tube.

Given the above, I find the 45 amps I've heard to be on the soft and forgiving side of the spectrum. I can see why this would be appealing and in some systems may be the ideal tube.

Remember, it is a system.

Herman, while you are largely correct, at the first VSAC in Washington there was a demonstration of the sounds of different output tubes. The had a single channel rig that would allow swapping output tubes. The 45 tube won the greatest support for its sound.

My experience with the 300B, however, suggests the fundemental difficulty with the question. As I said, on many of the first 300B amps that I had or listened to, the tube sounded very good in the midrange but without extension at both ends. The Exemplar and Reimyo amps, however, proved that the tube could sing. One used a solid state supply and the other a classic tube supply.

My Reimyo was delivered with '96 production WE 300Bs, but substituting real '60s WE 300Bs proved to give enormous benefits in openness and transient attack. Nothing else was changed.

I have found the Consonance Cyper 211 mono blocks increadably satisfying. Check out Dec issue of enjoythemusic.com for a most recient review of them. The reviewer compares them to 90K amps- retail however is about 5K.

While its true its about the design and yes I know its a system [amps dont sound so hot without source cords loudspeakers etc.] But I have owned enofe amps and can tell what dif tubes bring to the party so to speak so the ?I dont find 45 to sound soft or forgiving and when in the rt design and with rt loudspeaker they can have great frequincy range that I havent heard from other tubes but the low power can limit this if the loudspeakers not rt. I have heard 211 nice sound for sure many ways to skin the audio cat but I dont think he would like any of them :)

Friend

The nod goes to the 45 as the best of the tubes you listed. My experiences are:

45=Very honest and sweet with the entire frequency spectrum.

VT52=No experience with this tube.

2A3=Great detail over the entire frequency spectrum -but too thin in the lower octaves.

300B=Exaggerates the presentation.

845=Very nice and honest presentation. Almost as sweet as the 45.

EL34=Very sweet and romantic performer, but simply cannot do what triodes do for the presentation.

6550=Sounds like a great stereo - not a real presentation.

KT88=Better than the 6550, but still not a real presentation.