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SET Amp recommendations?

M

malcesine

pfm Member
I am looking to make my first foray into single ended, class A tubes to sweeten up my Proac D18's

I have a biamp setup, so the amp will only be used on the tweeter so hopefully that brings very low powered El34 type options into play.

Current amp is a Kora EL84 60W power amp, originally bought for Logan panels, is very nice but yearn for a little more warmth.

Budget around £1k used
 
Not SE but Class A and EL34 - the Yaqin MC10. I used one for 10 years until I replaced it with a mahoosive solid state amp that I use for frightening children.

In the next street.
 
malcesine said:
I am looking to make my first foray into single ended, class A tubes to sweeten up my Proac D18's

I have a biamp setup, so the amp will only be used on the tweeter so hopefully that brings very low powered El34 type options into play.
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Do you have an active crossover between the preamp and power amps?
 
G T Audio said:
Do you have an active crossover between the preamp and power amps?
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No, I run the woofer from a fairly chunky SS amp, tweeter via pre and power so I can adjust tweeter volume via preamp to match the SS amp (or occasionally put a little more into the woofer ;))
 
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Tony L has a lovely little Decware for sale in the classifieds. I’ve heard it, it’s gorgeous into his La Scalas.
 
EL34 SEP (or wired as SET) is far from the lowest powered amps in this field. for sure more power than EL84 on a similar position, or 2A3, 10Y/811 and others. if you can getaway with a 2w SET amp (though I doubt so), EL84 SET would be my first bet.
 
Not sure I would use a SET amp with ProAcs as they just don't have the power for the impedance changes.
 
I wouldnt use an SET for anything other than a door stop personally.... they are not hifi... not beyond the first one Watt in the case of a 10 - 20W SET anyway...
For what it's worth, the best one I've heard was a Longdog audio one but I reckon it must have been several £K...
 
Onespeed - Audio 300b might be perfect, I also don't go loud and it is only powering the tweeter...

Lordsummit - the Decware has gone!

Arkless - fully agree it's not hifi, but I'm not looking for hifi only something that sounds good to my ears. Any hifi amps I heard sound clinical and unmusical - but that's a different debate!

Thebiglebowski - Do you think its underpowered even if it's only the tweeter the amp is driving at lowish levels?
 
"I wouldnt use an SET for anything other than a door stop personally.... they are not hifi... not beyond the first one Watt in the case of a 10 - 20W SET anyway..."

I like to listen to music or a reproduction of it not hifi personally ;)
 
onespeed said:
"I wouldnt use an SET for anything other than a door stop personally.... they are not hifi... not beyond the first one Watt in the case of a 10 - 20W SET anyway..."

I like to listen to music or a reproduction of it not hifi personally ;)
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Same here. Which is why I would never use an SET. I genuinely can't think of any amplifier so bad that I would take an SET in preference to it...
 
onespeed said:
interesting, what's wrong with them in your opinion?
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I struggle to think of anything right about them.... no crossover distortion, there yer go... Everything else is awful! Assuming zero feedback then:

1/ Almost no damping factor. The frequency response will look like the impedance curve for the speaker!

2/ Very low power output generally. This is because it's single ended, which means it has to be class A, and single ended class A is generally even more inefficient than push pull class A.

3/ Very high distortion which is readily audible as false warmth and lushness in many SET's but can give harshness in some cases. Were talking 10% THD here in many cases!

4/ In many/most cases very limited frequency response and much worse still power response. Get beyond the first Watt and you're often talking 100Hz to 10KHz type bandwidth.... very audible!.

They are basically colouration generating special effects rather than hi fi amplifiers! If your ideal is 50's radiogram or 40's jukebox (but quieter) sound then they're just the ticket:rolleyes:
 
Arkless Electronics said:
Same here. Which is why I would never use an SET. I genuinely can't think of any amplifier so bad that I would take an SET in preference to it...
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It's a guess, but with opinions like that, I'd say there's no SET amp in the world that would allow itself into your house alive.
Even serge had some respect for the sound of an SET amp on song through the right speakers!
 
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