What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Mapman,

I'm not a professional reviewer, but as the great film director, William Wyler once said when asked, ”what he wanted,” from a particular actor after about 40 takes, he said, "I'll know it when I see it.” I think this is the correct response to your question, only change it to "you'll know the difference when you hear it for yourself.”

By the way, my unit was bought used and did not come with the stock rectifier tube. It arced over and the original owner replaced it with Kevin Deal recommended NOS Phillips ST bottle 5R4GYS. Nice tube but not recommended for this unit by Israel Blume. With this rectifier in the amp it sounded brighter, my wife did not like the tone of the bass, the sound was less warm, lean and thinner. Nor did she or I like the Gold Lion KT77s that the previous owner had installed paired with the Phillips rectifier and stock 6SL7s. I will revisit the GL KT77s with the Mullard rectifier as well as the Sylvania military 6SL7. Should be fun and interesting. First I'm going to test out the RFT Siemens and Black Treasures, then the SED Winged C at a later date.

Mik, good answer!

I would have high hopes for the stock tube by design but rolling is always a nice option to have. Often it just comes down to personal preferences with tube rolling I have found to-date.

If someone can build an amplifier comparable to the Dynamo for 120.00 in parts and 3 hours of labor, by all means do it. I'm very skeptical,talk is cheap. If that 120.00 USD gets you the same quality transformers(power and output),tube sockets, capacitors,chassis, wire quality etc, then do it. Construct this DIY amp and then do direct comparision with the Dynamo and listen. I think the result would "struggle" to equal the Dennis Had amps discussed earlier in this thread and that is being polite. Some folks are experienced/talented enough to make impressive DIY projects, but easier said then done. I'd like to hear the 120.00 USD amp built in 3 hours and judge it's sound quality. Any takers?
Charles,

I see This One comes in at just over $200 for parts. I'd be interested to know if anyone has built it and compared.

I've got the SE84 stock non kit amp which is similar to what Mapman linked to. The stock amp is probably better sounding than the kit in that it's direct wired with no circuit boards. I'm toying with the idea of picking up a Dynamo. If I do, it'll be fun to compare it to the Decware. I'd be curious to see how they stack up against each other. If the Dynamo is better, I'd be thrilled as I've got a really nice combo going right now with my SE84 and Omega Speakers.

I don't think it'd be possible to build a Dynamo for 120.00. Won't the tubes alone push you right to that price point?