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Single Ended Valve amp scratch ...

beammeup

beammeup

pfm Member
... it's one I want to itch.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a very good valve SE design from the UK without ridiculous and unnecessary audiophile inflated prices?

Similar to Decware in the US - i.e. affordable, but great care has been taken in the design for their low wattage amps in driving difficult loads (good transformers help). They have interesting articles for reading on their website.

I would only need a power amp (hopefully) - front end is digital with passive NVA P50sa.

I own Croft - superb - but it's not SE. I would just like to at least try an SE design to see what I 'might' be missing (if anything).

Any affordable choices (similar to Decware prices) here in the UK?
 
Not an answer, but can anyone please explain what single ended means, in very simple terms ?
Is there a double ended design ?
I know nothing about electronics, so maybe some idea of what certain types of amp are generally meant to sound like?
Sorry for the hijack beammeup.
 
steveinspain said:
Not an answer, but can anyone please explain what single ended means, in very simple terms ?
Is there a double ended design ?
I know nothing about electronics, so maybe some idea of what certain types of amp are generally meant to sound like?
Sorry for the hijack beammeup.
Click to expand...

Imagine a large two man bow saw.... as one man pushes the other pulls and vice versa... call this push-pull operation... single ended is well... one of the blokes gave up and walked off leaving the other to do both.. but he can probably pull harder than he can push... leaving the sawing action a bit asymmetrical...
 
Yank said:
Do you have speakers that will respond well to single-digit watts?
Click to expand...

As such I suppose - I have 90dB sensitive loudspeakers - not the best but - if necessary, I will take on a pair of suitably priced Klipsch R-820F's which are 97dB as an affordable outlay.

To some degree sensitivity is half the battle I accept that - I also accept that system building around a low wattage SE design takes a bit of care.

First point of call - affordable SE amp of high standard (again reference Decware) - I will work from there.
 
Forget anything like decware with 90dB speakers.

Depends on what they are i.e impedance curve but 90dB speakers will need at least 8 Watts to work.

What speakers are they as just saying 90dB doesn't really help?
 
steveinspain said:
Not an answer, but can anyone please explain what single ended means, in very simple terms ?
Is there a double ended design ?
I know nothing about electronics, so maybe some idea of what certain types of amp are generally meant to sound like?

Sorry for the hijack beammeup.
Click to expand...

Put simply a single ended amplifier has a single output device (valve or transistor) driving the loudspeaker, in the case of valves via an output transformer.
More popular for high quality are push pull designs using two output devices, the advantage being almost complete cancellation of even harmonic distortion and obviously doubling the power available.

There is a great deal more to it than this but that may be more than you wish to know at
the moment.

All hi fi amplifiers are supposed to faithfully amplify the input signal, some types do this better than others, this is partly subjective and too big a subject for a short reply.
 
gints said:
I am under impression that existence of even harmonic is advantage of single ended amp.
Click to expand...

only when it comes to distortion, with HE speakers it shouldn't be 'too' much of a factor.

SE just sounds better in the mids and treble where PP has it slightly in bass.
 
I don't want to start off any debate about whether SE's are better or not, technically etc - I simply want to see (hear) for myself with a well engineered design, hopefully UK based.

I will find suitably sensitive loudspeakers to accommodate 2 Watts (if that's what SE designs tend to be).
 
beammeup said:
I don't want to start off any debate about whether SE's are better or not, technically etc - I simply want to see (hear) for myself with a well engineered design, hopefully UK based.

I will find suitably sensitive loudspeakers to accommodate 2 Watts (if that's what SE designs tend to be).
Click to expand...

Why?

Just find an SE amp that will work with your speakers.

You still haven't said what they are?
 
thebiglebowski said:
IMHO PP doesn't sound better than SE and I wouldn't say it is 'higher quality'
Click to expand...

So called valve SE amps are a single valve biased in class A so should sound better than a push-pull AB provided that you don't push it too hard so that it remains linear.

My old Dansette Major has a SE or single valve class A amp.

Cheers,

DV
 
thebiglebowski said:
Why?

Just find an SE amp that will work with your speakers.

You still haven't said what they are?
Click to expand...

Currently they are Role Audio Enterprise (the newer model equivalent is the Role Audio Enterprise SE's). Sensitivity I believe is 90dB. Again, I will accommodate the lower wattage SE's with a Klipsch or similar if necessary.

Looking at this chart: https://www.decware.com/newsite/buyingguide.html , 90dB (if I stick with the Roles) will allow reasonable loudness from their red speaker scale as a recommendation even at 2 Watts.
 
beammeup said:
Currently they are Role Audio Enterprise (the newer model equivalent is the Role Audio Enterprise SE's). Sensitivity I believe is 90dB.
Click to expand...

Nominal 8 Ohms going down to 4.5 Ohms so not a horrible load for a valve amp.

Good entry level amp is the Pure Sound A10, 8 Watts of EL84 loveliness.
 
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