What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Rebbi
I have the di cappos paired with an asl parallel 300b. The sound is pretty darn good and there is more than enough volume produced. The only down side is the amp requires 4 300bs. I have been happy with this combination....floats my boat you could say.

ASL is a decent valued product. Build is good and its all point to point inside. If you are inclined to DIY, then these amps can be improved quite a bit. If you know how to solder its really just..out with the old, in with the new.

SO, in response to your question, best bargain? Id say, see if you can get your hands on a used AQ1010 from asl. Even new they are affordable. There is enough power there to drive the di cappos.

Just 8 watts per amp. Very good transformers on the Quicksilvers. I would experiment with 845s or 211s.

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