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Single Ended Triodes (SETs), the ultimate tube lovers dream.

RE: Dennis Fraker

Hello 2A3 fans. I am forever indebted to JAC (Jacmusic.com) for steering me honestly and correctly about that GOOD batch of those AVVT true-mesh 2A3s.

To this day, they set a very high standard as far as honestly reproducing ALL of music's parameters go.

Nothing is totally perfect however, and there are differences. Since I do other things besides electronics for a living, I don't care at all about cost cutting, so that makes these tubes very attractive to me.... their price is not a consideration.

I have used most all 2A3s-- and have run them in different ways at different voltage, current, and drive levels.

Since I never would, and never will tolerate anything that fails, changes characteristics, or ever needs any kinds of adjustments-- for any reasons whatsoever, and I never cared about amplifier power ratings-- I just wanted the speaker to be perfectly driven under all musical challanges, I ran those tubes at very conservative continuous currents-- and as JAC has intimated-- never even had ONE failure-- ever.

The RCA-Cunningham Single Plate 2A3 was very good. It had a reliable mid-range presentation, presented decent highs, and kept pace, rhythm, and timing relatively intact-- something no Bi-Plate tube ever even hinted at. It even had SOME bass! (not a lot!). The Single Plate was OK-- not great. The BiPlate was ridiculous and basically massacred music, as do most all common 2A3 types..

The AVVT true-mesh tubes that I had were from an unusually excellent batch. These ran the entire musical range with great gusto, precise imaging, terrific dynamics and a very linear bandwidth-- not to mention an amazing introspective look into the inner details of recorded music.
The "bottom-End" of this tube was, however, good, but not great. It was clean, well delineated, but didn't go really deep and down there-- with real power. That was this tubes only limitation, so I still use it at audio shows-- where it still amazes and pleases. Its overall musical accuracy is simply stunning, there's no other word for it.

Today, we have the EML, and also the JJ Solid-Plate 2A3. The EML is as JAC describes it-- later batches are reliable, and it is a mesh with a small frame holding the mesh screen into place.

This tube-- sonically-- is a compromise. It had decent overall linear musicality, it has better bottom end than the AVVT, but can't compete with the AVVT's absolutely stunning feeling of absolutely real presence and total musical believability. Is it better than any other 2A3 out there? It certainly is, and I strongly recommend it over any other 2A3 today-- in fact, over any output tube made today of any kind-- and that in spades.. Run it conservatively, for sure, but it will take more plate current than the AVVT mesh would.

The JJ Solid-Plate is really a 300B carcass (tube body, base, bulb and plate) sporting a 2A3 filament structure, and appropriate 2A3 grid spacing and biasing.

This is a tube with a rated 40 watts of plate dissipation-- I would never run it there. It will stand more plate current than the other 2A3 tubes-- something which does not interest me.... as I have learned how to move speaker diaphragms with far more physical power on far less watts.

The JJ Solid-Plate 2A3 is extremely rugged, lasts almost forever, is ridiculously cheap to buy, and has terrific bass drive and power-- easily equal to some very powerful solid-state amps-- in fact, even better! It also has a nice, clean, undistorted sonic presentation, and really extended highs. For every day listening, and those very punchy Blu-Rays and DVDs that you play in your home theatre, this tube is a monster killer! POWER, POWER, POWER! LOW distortion of all kinds is another bonus!.

So, why not just use this? Well, sorry, but good as it is-- there are cues and clues in music that this device never even sees! At all. But what it does do is spectacular.

Ah, such fun! There you are-- the best 2A3s out there. Any others? Any "better" tube types? Some people may think so, but what if you want to play ALL of the music?

HMMMM--MMMM!

---Dennis---





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