What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Al and Mapman, Good comments from both of you. One does well not to ignore physics and math. Reality is painfully stubborn and persistent. It won't bend no matter how much you want it to. However, in this field, one's subjective perception of that reality must be the final arbiter. Most of us have been gifted with the ears and minds to discern nuances to which 95% of the human race is oblivious. This is why an A/B against Rebbi's Manleys is the ideal. His room, his gear, his music, and his biases. It is after all his dime, and he has to live with his decision. I can't tell him what he should do, because I've never heard his amps in any system.

I think the Dynamo is an incredible accomplishment, but it has its limitations. You are not going to get a world class amp for 1.3K.

Tim, I also enjoyed your review very much. I also think those new production Gold Lion 5AR4s are quite good. It is nice to see some nice new production tubes that aren't so expensive.

Regardless of Rebbi's final decision, he should be credited with inciting a very agreeable and informative thread. Like Charles, I've got better things to do than get involved in the battleground threads.

Tubegroover, I urge caution on the Coincident gear. It is addictive.

I'm sure it is Brownsfan. As a matter of interest Charles and Brownsfan this past Saturday I attended an audio meeting where one of the members told me of another fellow audiophile that purchased a pair of Lamm ML 2.2 SETs to replace his Franks. He is now considering selling the Lamm as he can't justify the price/performance difference. Now that is saying something. The Lamm amplifiers at 37k and the Franks at 5.9K. I would really love to hear the Franks but the praise on the value/performance of Coincident products seems universal. The Turbo 845 Integrated looks interesting as well but at 100 lbs, not so much!

Great comments everyone, this has been a enjoyable thread.

Brownsfan, I especially like your cautions. You're completely right that no one (at this point) is going to get a world class amp for 1.3K; but as Tim Smith also correctly pointed out you can get awfully close. For 1.3K that is an incredible bargain to even approach world-class. Plus, no preamp necessary. This amp does so much right. Like you and Tubegroover, I also like the fact that some tube manufactures are finally making much better tubes.

I would also like to caution that a product like the Dynamo, for it to work best needs efficient speakers with high impedance, say true 93-94db or higher, minimal 8ohm impedance. Soon, I'm going to hook up the Dynamo to my 6ohm 96db efficient Infinity Prelude Compositions that hit 25hz in the bass due to its built in 300watt mash amp driving its 12 inch woofers. Still shaking my head how Harman Kardan screwed up future iterations of this good speaker.

Almarg, what can I say that hasn't already been said, your contribution to the A'gon can't be overstated, always an honest, helpful poster. I really want to pick your mind on the Daedalus speakers down the line.

The 5-7 watt SET amps that I have heard do surprising well with even moderately efficient speakers in many cases with many kinds of music. They have their unique charms within their limitations. It takes very large very efficient speakers to get around the limitations completely based on what I have heard which to date supports my general understanding of the physics involved in driving speakers optimally.

I have only heard one SOTA such full range system where dynamic headroom seemed unconstrained, a very large multi unit custom GOTO horn system, similar to Avantgarde with separate bass modules in appearance/design, run off a pricey Audio Note SET amp. I'm sure there are others but the key is to havbe very large very good, very high efficiency speakers designed specifically with SET type amps in mind.

But on a smaller scale, I have heard various very nice sounding SET based systems with smaller speakers, but each of course has its technical limitations that may or may not matter depending. THis stuff is as much about personal preferences as anything, though for me. With SET amps and many smaller speakers, they still can as long as higher volumes, low end extension and optimal dynamics are not key ingredients in the preferred recipe.

my impressions mirror yours Mapman.