What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Brownsfan,
I appreciate the effort, time and patience it requires to carefully compare
three different amplifiers with a speaker and listening to multiple
recordings, thank you. My gut feeling for the Dennis Had amp's diminished
bass region and symphonic music performance is traceable to the power
supply and transformer quality. The Dynamo and the Had amplifier have
identical watt ratings yet you noticed a considerable performance gap
favoring the Dynamo. The Frankenstein's higher level outcome isn't
surprising, it doesn't have the cost constraints and can utilize superior
parts(and bigger/better transformers) without that concern. Symphonic
music at 99 db SPL peaks
presented "cleanly" with the monitor sized 92 db sensitive
deCapo is very impressive. Interesting your comments in comparing it to
the 500 watt Cary SS amplifier in terms of driving this speaker. The brand
new Dynamo should get quite a bit better with adequate burn in and better
tubes as you noted.

Charles and Rebbi, when I first purchased the deCapos, the Cary SS amps were all I had around here to drive them with. Based on their performance with the Cary's I had a hard time figuring out why so many people were so enraptured with them. They were good, but clearly a notch below my Magnepan 3.7Rs. When I picked up the Triumph extreme monitors, they, to my ears, really separated themselves as superior to both the Maggies and the deCapos.

It seems the deCapos are a different animal driven by tube amps. I am very pleased with how well they pair with the dynamo. I suspect that paired with a good source, this will be exactly what I wanted in my bedroom system.

What I can't answer is how does this relate to the Mahis? I've heard the neoclassic 250s, but not the Mahis. I suspect the Franks would be a good step up from the Mahis, but this exercise taught me not to presuppose results. I can't even begin to speculate on the Mahi's vs the Dynamo.

We listen with our ears and our brains, not with our brains alone. What is also unpredictable is how a given individual will respond to a given presentation.

Brownsfan,
How amazingly generous of you to take all this time and trouble! I really appreciate it. And thanks for the notes about the Concident amps. I wasn't aware that Concident even marketed amps, I'd only heard of their speakers.
I have been in touch with both Tash Goka of Ref 3A and Steve Deckert of Decware.
Tash says that the Antique Sound Labs ASL AQ 1005 DT (8 wpc) was designed with the De Capo in mind and will drive it quite nicely. It's a 300b based SET. It retails for $3000.
Steve Deckert recommended his 6 WPC, EL34-based SET, the Decware SE34I.4, which he said would sound twice as good (!) as the Manley (for a variety of reasons which he enumerated) and fall to the Manley only in terms of overall power. In other words, if I wanted to "crank it" then the Decware wouldn't play as loud as the Mahi's. But, he added, "in the end it will sound so good you won't care." The stock SE34I.4 goes for only $1300 with one input and one volume knob. Other inputs can be ordered at extra cost in order to negate the need for a preamp altogether.
Brownsfan (and everyone), what'cha think? ;-)

Rebbi, no problem, my friend. It was a lot of fun and provided a nice diversion from some mind numbingly boring chores. It also gave me a chance to firm up my plans for my bedroom system. I'm sticking with the deCapos, and I will be driving them with the Dynamo.

As for what I think, I will offer two thoughts.
1. I think you will be very happy with what you hear if you pair your deCapos with a good SET!
2. I think Coincident makes very good SETs, and both the dynamo and franks are excellent pieces at their respective price points.

I haven't heard the ASL or Decware amps, so I can't comment on them.

Rebbi,
It seems you have a number of very good options and the blessings of your speaker's builder(recommending the ASL 300b SET) as regards to SET/SEP amplifiers. The key take home point is "quality" of the particular amplifier as Brownsfan confIrmed with his listening results. You will obtain exceptional sound quality driving your deCapo with the appropriate SET or SEP(Dynamo or the Decware).The marvelous Frankenstein(6K) may be overkill for your stated goal(bargain price).I have a bias/preference for DHT tubes over pentode tubes but that's just me. The SEPs are generally less expensive than a good SET(DHT).Either way, you will do fine.
Charles,