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

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ SET Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Re: help me sort out the sounds (45, 2A3, 300B)

Posted by Jim Hodgson (A) on March 23, 2007 at 01:38:59

In Reply to: Re: help me sort out the sounds (45, 2A3, 300B) posted by jcb2005 on March 22, 2007 at 13:21:11:

First off, a little tea and a lot more sympathy: this is truly *agonizing*, isn't it? I feel your pain, 'cause I went through it three to four years ago. 45s, 2A3s (speaking of which, what *are* "current" 2A3s anyway?), 300Bs? Some other exotic variant? Something different entirely? And what speakers? Oh, you've decided on those already. But, are you going to inhabit this listening room forever -- and, if not, what to do??? It's never ending, huh? But, enough unhelpful empathizing. I don't show up on this forum often, but when I do, it's to help in some practical manner -- hopefully....

Second, if you're looking for "our man in Brooklyn," Don Farber is it. A real gentleman, who will run circles around your soon-to-be new "best friends" at In Living Stereo, and who will get you centered and on the right path, S.E.T.-wise. Please e-mail me privately, and I'll give you his contact information -- assuming you don't already have it. (A warning, though: I haven't seen or even spoken to him in a couple of years, so I may have outdated info.) Also, e-mail me privately if you'd like to know how the folks at In Living Stereo wouldn't know an S.E.T. amplifier if one fell through their roof at their Astor Place "audio salon."

Third, a 35' x 14' room with 12' ceilings? Why can't I convince my wife to move to Brooklyn??? (We live in a 600 sq. ft. apt. in Manhattan!) Even with the speaker efficiency and volume levels you're citing, though, I truly wonder if the 45 tube is going to come even *close* to doing enough for you in that space -- in all respects, not just in the basement frequencies. (Very frankly, many would argue that the 45 handles bass frequencies more accurately than any other audio amplification device ever devised -- vacuum tube or otherwise. In any event, I would be hard pressed to list "bass response" at the top of a list of 45 shortcomings.)

Fourth, no matter what, it's *really* hard to go wrong with one of George Wright's products. I own his (original?) phono stage, the WPP100C. Couldn't be happier with its value. And my assumption, without first-hand experience, is that his amplifiers -- indeed, everything he builds -- likely exhibits that same "low cost for high performance" quality. Basically, you're just not going to go wrong, here. Just like if you were to sit down in front of two bottles of wine -- say the '47 Cheval Blanc and the '61 Petrus -- you just aren't going to have any regrets. And no one's going to feel sorry for you, either :-) You're at or very close to the summit; so, take some comfort in that.

Finally, if you still really want to hear a 45-based power amplifier in your current system, I'd be happy to help you out. I have a 4-year-old Jeff Korneff 45SE that I'd be happy to bring by for a listening session in your system. It's in storage at the moment in my house in Greenwood Lake (in Orange County -- about halfway between the city and Woodstock). Easy enough to cart back to the city and to your place, if you'd like. We could spend a weekend afternoon seeing if the (wonderful, beautiful, gloriously psychedelic, how-could-you-possibly-consider-any-alternative? :-) 45 tube does anything for you in your system. One caveat, though: Jeff (Korneff) has warned me about coupling cap leakage in his older amps, and I haven't tested mine yet. (It's been a couple of years since I've used it -- although it's been well broken-in.) I'd have to run some quick tests with a multimeter before I'd feel comfortable putting it back into use. Another caveat: although it drives much less efficient speakers than yours (mine are Cain & Cain [R.I.P., Terry] Abbys at something like 95 dB), the system is in a *teeny* room -- you can check my system for room measurements by clicking "(A)" -- and, in fact, they're the nearfield version of those speakers, so I sit ***very*** close to them. So, my listening "position" is bound to be *much* different than yours.

Please -- anyone -- correct me if I'm wrong; but, the common wisdom sems to be: use the 45 if you can; if you can't, step up to the 300B. (Which implies that the 2A3 represents the worst of both worlds. Of course, 2A3 fanatics will likely jump all over this, saying that it represents the *best* of both worlds. Maybe both camps are "correct" in their own ways?)

In any case, jcb2005, if you'd like to get in touch, e-mail me privately if you would: jim.hodgson[at]yahoo.com (you know what to do with that: replace the "[at]" with "@"). And sorry that I can't do more along the lines of "the 45 does this well and that poorly; the 2A3 does this well and that poorly; and the 300B does this well and that poorly." From my experience, the situation just doesn't lend itself to those kind of blanket statements, so -- as everyone seems to say -- "let *your* ears be the judge." I just didn't want to say that without offering some way to move you a little further along the "your-ear-judging" path....

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Crux Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---