SET Asylum

RE: New to SETs

64.12.116.141

In Reply to: RE: New to SETs posted by thetubeguy1954 on February 06, 2008 at 10:36:01

I have tweaked a few vintage PP amps and tweaked two custom built PP amps with about every known quality part and tubes available over a period of two years. I used 1930s real triode power tubes in one PP design. I did not use Hammond audio transformers, only the best available. Some Hammond audio transformers are very good though as reported by others using test equipment to verify their claims.

A simple vintage Single-ended amp with a few parts upgrades outperformed the PP amps. Even in stock form I prefered the single-ended design. Although the difference was not huge, the SET magic was enough that my PP amps are collecting dust now.

I started building a new pair of SET amps for more power. I will try the new reissued Genelex KT88 Golden Lion tube triode connected and if not satisfied, will move on to a real power triode for the 15 watts power output I desire.

I do not start any project with any errors such as using electrolytic capacitors in critical areas, lower quality resistors, average quality audio iron and so forth. My new amp makes use of cathode bias with a pair of 160uF Solen polyproplyene capacitors at the power tube. I will not use an electrolytic type capacitor for that application. To this date, I prefer using an expensive plate choke on the driver tube vs bypassing the driver cathode with a capacitor when the design required higher gain. Sure, I will try the bypass cap at the driver tube again, but never liked that end result even with the best capacitors available in the past per my listening tests. Finally, I follow the findings of experts at AA with their many hours of trial and error elimination. Read enough archives and a picture of a good design comes forth.

I do not wish to sound like a preacher here, simply 'it is what it is'.

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