What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?


Hi, Gang,
I response to my recent review of the Reference 3A De Capo BE speaker, someone wrote that if you really want to hear them sing, you should try them with a SET amp, or words to that effect.
That got me thinking. The De Capo's are 92 db efficient, which (correct me if I'm wrong) seems kind of borderline for low-power SET amps.
In any event, right now I'm running mine with a pair of Manley Mahi mono-blocks. They are switchable from triode (20 watts) to "ultra linear" (40 watts). I run them in triode all the time, and in my room, the volume knob almost never goes past 9 o'clock; more would just be too loud.
All that said, what do you guys think of running the De Capo's with a SET amp? And if I did, what's the best bargain in SET's these days?
Thanks!
rebbi
Tubegroover,
Your comment about the Lamm/Coincident Frankenstein owner is interesting. I know the Lamm can drive speakers that the Frankenstein would find difficult to handle. If the speaker is an appropriate match the Frankenstein can hold its own on purely music making/emotional engagement grounds.Is that Lamm owner actually going to return to the Frankenstein?
Charles,
No doubt that things need not be perfect from a technical perspective in order for good music to be made. Happens all the time. Most everything has some limitations. The key is to understand what they are and how they may or may not be relevant case by case.

The Coincident is a very nice product. SO is the Glow. Newer Glows advertise two inputs compared to one in older models which might be of value in this case plus they come in still for several hundred dollars less, not a trivial amount if product is suitable. I do not recall what speakers I heard it with but they were smaller monitor types and sound was top notch. I've heard other similar wattage amps drive Nola BOxer monitors similarly well also. I've also heard similar amp drive Zu Essence, which are larger and more efficient and still thought the amp was underpowered for rock music even based on what I heard. Jazz and acoustic music in general sounded great. The Zu guy there even admitted the SET was probably not optimal for all kinds of music. I had to ask for him to play some Rush as a test. I think the vendors like to play to audiophile desires for more exotic gear, like SETs, sometimes, knowing that like most things there will be limitations.
Mapman,
Thanks for the heads up on the Glow One/Two. Another promising (bargain) amp that can apparently do justice to the music with the right speakers. I really enjoyed the 6 Moons review.
My gut feeling is that the Glow is a good sounding SEP (single ended pentode, el84) and likely a step above the Dennis Had offerings. The Glow weighs 14.3 pounds, uses small amounts of NFB anc has solid state rectification. The Dynamo weighs 22 pounds, zero NFB and is tube rectified. The Dynamo's 50% weight gain is in all likelihood bigger and heftier transformers. As had been noted before, transformer quality and capacity can make or break these single ended amplifiers. It would be very worthwhile to compare these two differently designed amplifiers in the same system. Design differences aside, I'd like to hear what distinguishes one from the other.
Charles,
The GLOW also has the cool glowing color ring around the volume that changes color. :^)

My app would be as a headphone amp for both STAX and conventional phones and to perhaps try with my Triangle Titus XS speakers in my wife's sunroom, where small and inconspicuous works best.

Currently the Triangles run off my main system downstairs via in-wall speaker wiring. I have a dedicated setup for the Stax in my family room running off a 70s vintage Yamaha receiver fed by Squeezebox Touch that works quite well, but I would love to hear it with a really good sounding tube amp.