How did you decide to go SET?

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How did you decide to go SET?

Postby Oldfogey » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:57 am

I love hearing about others' experiences, please share yours! ;)

My SET amplifier "history" as far as I can remember, goes like this:
Kondo Kassai, Welborne Laurels, Wavelength Venus, and finally, JE's SE10 monos. Done! :)

Starting with the 18wpc Kondo, I discovered an immediacy, an emotional pull, and a certain rawness that I could not live without. Who'd have thought? From 18 to 1.5 wpc. I'm a happy camper.
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby camotecue » Wed Mar 07, 2012 9:57 am

Oldfogey wrote:I love hearing about others' experiences, please share yours! ;)


I've always been a fan of 2a3 SE amp. It is my first tube amp and up to now I'm still using it. I became more convinced when i switched to horns.

No negative feedback and less parts = speed, clarity. but I use a SS amp to drive my lows. :)
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby obi » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:32 am

for the music i listen to (mainly vocals and light classical pieces), i feel that SET interprets them best.

there are times i stray to PP, ss, headphones...

but i always find myself going back to SET :)
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby vintage_dog » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:34 am

Oldfogey wrote:Starting with the 18wpc Kondo, I discovered an immediacy, an emotional pull, and a certain rawness that I could not live without. Who'd have thought? From 18 to 1.5 wpc. I'm a happy camper.


there's something in the simplicity of a SET system that gives it the magic which a PP or SS amp has been trying to ape all along with more parts, more power at the expense of clarity of expression. it's the same simplicity that attracted me to try out and own various set amps - 2A3, 300B, 45, 10 and variations. with the right speakers and front-end, they are indeed very revealing and involving.

having said that, that is not to say ss and pp amps can't provide a similar level of involvement and emotional connect. i have heard many systems that are non-SET that have shamed other SET systems, because they have been matched and tuned properly.

am glad you found your nirvana at 1.5w ;)

oh btw, is that magic using digital or analog? just teasing :lol: i guess again whether analog or digital, SET or non-SET, we all can find our own musical heaven.

congrats and cheers!
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby JackD201 » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:36 am

I've owned one 2a3 and 3 300B amps. My favorite amp in the world is the GM70 ML3, running second is Keith's 6c33c-b ML2.1. There is a naturalness that I've found only in single ended, class A, zero negative feedback. Unfortunately my speaker preference/preferred presentation doesn't jibe well with very low power. Still all my amps be they mid powered tubes or hybrid SS are Class A,ZNFB. I owe WS a lot for exposing me to this. In the past I was all headroom, all the time.
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby setup1 » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:38 am

Was looking for Telefunken 12AX7s, Mullard EL84/EL34s for my modified Dyna and Eico at a Baltimore/Washington DC metro area hamfest in early '93...met Joe Roberts selling his first issue of Sound Practices....everything else became history. :D
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby detubo » Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:54 am

It was a pair of welborne laurel with tj 300B putting out 8 watts and spendor 3/1Ps. The owner of the amp recommended i play Stacey Kent's "So Nice" and Jacintha's "Here's to Ben" CD which he loooooooves so much. Ghostly was how I would describe it. Then I now moved to into a JE 45 amp pushing a whooping 3 watts and a pair of altec 604. Hanep ang bass! Binenta ko na ang sub woofer after that at naging mas ghostly pa. nahihipuan na ako ng multo sa thighs. Sarap! The rest is porn history.
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby vintage_dog » Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:06 am

detubo wrote:It was a pair of welborne laurel with tj 300B putting out 8 watts and spendor 3/1Ps. The owner of the amp recommended i play Stacey Kent's "So Nice" and Jacintha's "Here's to Ben" CD which he loooooooves so much. Ghostly was how I would describe it. Then I now moved to into a JE 45 amp pushing a whooping 3 watts and a pair of altec 604. Hanep ang bass! Binenta ko na ang sub woofer after that at naging mas ghostly pa. nahihipuan na ako ng multo sa thighs. Sarap! The rest is porn history.


having heard your system playing jennifer on the floor complete with lights, dancing ladies (haha), wine, food, etc... i know what you mean... :rofl:

must say the best sounding SET-powered disco set-up i've heard in a long time... :lol:

pics to follow..of the dancing ladies :lol:
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby detubo » Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:12 am

vintage_dog wrote:
detubo wrote:It was a pair of welborne laurel with tj 300B putting out 8 watts and spendor 3/1Ps. The owner of the amp recommended i play Stacey Kent's "So Nice" and Jacintha's "Here's to Ben" CD which he loooooooves so much. Ghostly was how I would describe it. Then I now moved to into a JE 45 amp pushing a whooping 3 watts and a pair of altec 604. Hanep ang bass! Binenta ko na ang sub woofer after that at naging mas ghostly pa. nahihipuan na ako ng multo sa thighs. Sarap! The rest is porn history.


having heard your system playing jennifer on the floor complete with lights, dancing ladies (haha), wine, food, etc... i know what you mean... :rofl:

must say the best sounding SET-powered disco set-up i've heard in a long time... :lol:

pics to follow..of the dancing ladies :lol:


Kooyaaaaaaaaaa! naalala ko may make shift glow sticks pa. naka skinny jeans and chelsea boots pa si kooya!
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby keith » Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:52 am

Jovs, I went the other way. Started with several flea powered amps, 300B, 2A3 and a 45, with the 2A3 and 45 being my favorites. Moved on to the 6C33C SET of Lamm. :) Like you, I feel I am done. Unless funds permit for an ML2.2 in the future. :?:
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby JackD201 » Fri Mar 09, 2012 3:09 am

keith wrote:Jovs, I went the other way. Started with several flea powered amps, 300B, 2A3 and a 45, with the 2A3 and 45 being my favorites. Moved on to the 6C33C SET of Lamm. :) Like you, I feel I am done. Unless funds permit for an ML2.2 in the future. :?:


Mauuna ata muna ang Jerez 44A :D :D :D
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby hypertriode » Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:56 am

A New York based friend sent me copies of Sound Practices, a DIY-intensive underground audio mag.
Fascinated by the write-ups on DHT's I built my first triode amp year 1988.
It was a push-pull 2A3 power amp based on the venerable Williamson circuit.
The sound floored me and led me to build another 2A3 amp later that year.
This time it's a Loftin-White based SET circuit published in Sound Practices.
It was another level up! Since that time I built around three dozens or so triode amps.
A dozen or so for the late great Johnny Cruz!
10Y/VT-25, 45, 2A3, 6B4, 300B, VT-52, 50, 811, 813, 1626, 6CK4, 6BX7, 6080.
Have built around these triodes except 211 or 845.
For delicacy, immediacy, extracting nuances and inner detail in music, nothing beats S.E.T.!
Last edited by hypertriode on Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby dimfer » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:02 pm

my first tube equipment attempt was a 25 wpc New Audio Frontier 845 Integrated SE Special Edition from Italy. It was not able to drive my Accentus speakers properly, and I ended up selling it before even reaching my living room. I've had a few other amps, then Trodt PSET 6c33c-b and now Trodt Sikatuna GM70. I like the sound of PSET with balls. It extracts a lot of details that's hardly noticeable in other designs, presented with purity, clarity and immediacy. I think I will have at least a pair of SET amps for the rest of my audio life.
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Re: How did you decide to go SET?

Postby Jon Agner » Sat Mar 10, 2012 12:21 pm

After hearing how Choob's 3/4 watt Darling amp + Voigt pipes sounded, I got hooked and went to build the Tono's TB 2A3 +my own TQWT Dai-ichi FR. It was 9 years ago that I got hooked and never looked back :)
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