What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?
If your into great value for money, and not glitz factor. This guy in Japan makes some very good SE and PP tube gear, and has a large underground following. I've done some tests on his earlier 2a3 se and they were very good and are solid well made designs. http://softone.a.la9.jp/english/ Cheers George |
Hello George, 880.00 is an exceptionally low cost for a 300b SET and a total amplifier weight of "19 pounds" is very light. This would suggest that the transformers are quite small and compact. Most high quality 300b amps are considerably heavier due to the robust and heavy duty transformers and power supply they require. These factors are the heart and soul of SETs and separate the excellent from the mediocre. Given your familiarity with this brand, how good is their drive capacity and sound quality across the full frequency spectrum? I'm curious as really good 300b SETs don't come dirt cheap. At least that's been my experience so far. I'm not implying amplifier weight is the sole factor, however transformer and power supply size and quality are crucial for successful SET performance. Just a relative comparison, my SET has a total weight of 68 pounds for the same 8 watts. Look at the weight of Line Magnetic, Border Patrol, Viva, Mastersound, ,Wavelength and other highly regarded SET models. Could this small amp be a David amongst SET Goliaths? Thanks George, Charles, |
Hi Charles, as you may have noticed he makes uses and sells is own R-Core output and power transformers, people and some hard core techs I know swear by them, far better than toriodal and better than EI core, is their responses. From what I Googled quickly, R-Cores are half the size and weight for the same EI spec, but have the advantages that both have and none of the disadvantages, but are very difficult to manufacture (wind) compared to toroidals and EI's for small companies like this guy Shoichi. The 2A3 SE I had here for a while (it's at the bottom of his page discontinued I think.) Was for me impressive on a pair of NS1000's I had here, up to a point, they were after all only 2 or 3w. Then I (under cover)took it around to a friends place who owns a pair of massive 4 or 5 box Goldmund Speakers the one with the cradle frame that staggers the boxes up to the ceiling. I told the owner to go away for a 1/2hr while I wried up the 2A3 so he couldn't see it. When he walked in he was floored by the sound. http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?2438-Are-These-Speakers-Even-Legal-Is-The-A-Lawyer-In-The-House/page7 Myself I'm still a big current high biased Class A Solid State lover. Cheers George |
Charles just found some one who can explain why R-Cores make for very good output transformers, for triode SE amps here's what he said. "Actually they appear to work and sound very well. Maybe they are not so popular because you get lower inductance in comparison to Fe cores (of comparable size). This is more o less the same for other amorphous cores. However they have a much smaller coercive field (near to zero) and tighter hysteresis loop that makes them more linear devices. In other words they have lower eddy currents losses and lower hysteresis loss. The permeability is higher and more costant (as function of the induction B) however when you place a gap for DC application it reduces to smaller values than those of a conventional core (i.e. same turns = less inductance). They work very well with low impedance devices, like triodes, much less with pentodes. One factor that definitely works against the R-core is the difficulty in winding. The coil former has to be placed on the core first, only then can the coils be wound. That's why you'll see a plastic gear on the formers." Cheers George |
