Flea SET amp for Shindo Aurieges

Michael, Fi amps (e.g. Fi Super X 2A3, Fi 45 Fi WE421) have a very high input impedance that matches well with the 10K input impedance and high gain of the Fi preamps (one of the reasons why I was considering Shindo :)

Some of the other ones that get good reviews (some of these I heard already): Bottlehead, Korneff, Welborne, Wright, Yamamoto, Verdier - I am sure we can get a few of these together for a listening session in Toronto sometime in the near future ;)

As others mentioned, a lot will depend on your choice of speakers as well.

Hi Rene, yes my research also turned up a couple that you named Yamamoto, Fi and Verdier. The last two should be relatively easy to audition :) Look forward to hearing them soon.

I must confess, I'm a bit of a bass freak, will these flea amps and single driver HE speakers be able to keep me happy?

Mikey,

If you are a bass freak AND want to go SET, then be prepared to have very LARGE speakers and/or spend a lot of money unless your room is fairly small. Superior bass in single-driver speakers is even more difficult because a single driver has to reproduce (almost) the entire frequency spectrum. Not an easy task.

I have 5 foot tall(95dB) Cain & Cain IM-Ben double-horn speakers which have a Fostex 168 Sigma driver and a Fostex T-900A supertweeter above 12kHz. These speakers are amazing in many regards, but real, accurate and deep bass simply is not possible. I use a pair of C&C Bailey subwoofers for that.

I also have 97dB Hammer Dynamics Super-12 speakers which feature a 12" coaxial driver and a supertweeter above 10kHz. This kit speaker puts out pretty amazing bass for HE speaker, let alone a single driver. There is something about really large single drivers that is even more unique than their smaller brethren. And they rock like no other. This is a great balance between cost($650 kit), cabinet size, and performance.

I would think that some of the new large Hemp Acoustics CO15V 15" coax driver would be even better.

Dark: My basement room is relatively small, 13' x 17' but with only a 6' ceiling. I never could get a subwoofer to blend properly with my main speakers, do you C&C subs work well with your speakers?

When you say I need to spend a lot of money, how much are you talking about?

I admit it is a balancing act and not easily done.
With your room dimensions it looks very do able. You just may pull it off. The Brines Acoustic LT-2000s may work well in that room.
Bass down to around 30Hz. Efficient enough to be driven by a few watts.

And yes you get REAL bass.Transmission line loaded SDs can't play at extreme levels(meaning over 105 dB)before things go down hill,but what they do within their capabilities is quite amazing.

Once you hear horn loaded or transmission line bass done right it will be hard to listen to anything else. Just like when you get that SET sound in your head and expect every thing to sound like it... only to be disappointed.

One of the attributes you'll notice is balance. You'll get good underlying bass even at moderate sound levels. You don't have to crank it to get that full bottom end feeling.

I find many speakers need to be cranked hard before the bass appears. In some cases it still never appears. lol

To be honest the SET sound has ruined me. I only want to hear SS in Home theater now. There's something missing when it come to music if quality tubes aren't involved now. So I feel your pain.

Good luck with the hunt