What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Mapman,
Your experiences with SET amps(not sure which ones you've heard,some are better than others of course) seem to certainly differ from mine,Brownsfan,Mikirob,Markus and others. In your case it appears you are better off with high power SS or class D amplifiers. That's the good aspect of audio, we all find what individually suits us best. Dynamic contrast and their gradiations are not an issue in my system. I personally experience more "startle" episodes listening with my SET amps than all the previous amps I've owned. As they say, YMMV.

Charles,

It's probably just amp/speaker synergy. Case by case. Each case may be a bit different . The best set demos I have heard have been excellent but with very large very efficient speakers designed for the task. Results of the best ss based combos are in the same league. No two exactly the same though. Source material makes a huge difference as well of course.

Ralph/Atmasphere has made the point in a number of past threads that a major reason SETs are commonly perceived as having especially good dynamics relates to how their distortion varies as a function of signal level.

With most push-pull amps, once output level falls below some number of watts (often measured in single digits, I believe), distortion will rise as the level decreases further.

With SETs, on the other hand, distortion will continue to progressively decrease as output level decreases, until it becomes vanishingly small at very low output levels. While distortion will progressively increase as the output level approaches the amplifier's maximum power capability. Since as Ralph has said our hearing mechanisms utilize certain distortion components as loudness cues, that kind of variation of distortion as a function of signal level will maximize the perceived contrast between high volume notes and low volume notes. Also, the vanishingly small distortion at low signal levels will enhance resolution of low level detail.

Makes sense to me. Best regards,
-- Al

I would buy that explanation. In my case I have a set on the radar screen somday as a good solution with a wider variety of speaker designs for lower level more casual listening. Good for the ears no doubt. That would be another advantage for music lovers looking to preserve their hearing. Also I believe lower listening levels tend to fare better more often for minimizing listening fatigue which tends to increase listening enjoyment. At least for forms of music conducive for low level listening.

Rebbi, the 300B with David's "5.6" model speakers (with his proprietary 15" AN drivers) were among my favorite combinations at RMAF this year...at all of $3.5K total for the pair (including the speaker build). The incongruity between sound and price tag on that system was second only to the little Linkwitz omni built from Home Depot PVC pipe that costs $450 to build (now THAT was an eye opener...).

The only "trouble" with the AN 5.6s (for me) was that they are far too large (44T X 18W X 14.74) for any space I'm likely to occupy in the near future. But they were pretty darn sweet...