Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...


Hi, Folks,
If anyone's interested, I've started a blog with lots of photos, documenting my ongoing build of the Audio Note Kit 1 300B SET amp. If you've ever thought of building any kit before and want to get a feel for what it's like, you're welcome to have a look!
rebbi
Rob,
We all learn from each other and the experiences posted here. For example I look forward to reading your impressions of the Tekton Lore and the De Capo with your amplifiers. Most of us posting on this thread are just music lovers who want natural sounding components to increase our listening enjoyment. I'm very eager to read Rebbi's impressions when he gets his properly functioning amplifier back.
Charles,
"The problem, it turns out, was with the output transformers. Brian and Pete have NEVER seen this issue in all the years they've been shipping and assembling these kits, but somehow or other these transformers had become magnetized and as a result weren't putting out full power."

That's a new one for me for sure. Glad they found the problem. Did they indicate the possible causes? I would want to know so as to know what to avoid in the future.
Brownsfan,
With respect to your question above regarding the "Walking Bass" in comparing the DeCappo and Tekton M-Lore, here is my view with a little help from Wikipedia to sort out what I am trying to say, with the addition of my own personal take on the matter of the "quality and quantity" of the bass between the two speakers, I Quote (Wikipedia):

A walking bass is a style of bass accompaniment or line, common in baroque music and jazz, which creates a feeling of regular quarter note movement, akin to the regular alternation of feet while walking.Thus walking basslines generally consist of unsyncopated notes of equal value, usually quarter notes (known in jazz as a "four feel"). Walking basslines use a mixture of scale tones, arpeggios, chromatic runs, and passing tones to outline the chord progression of a song or tune, often with a melodic shape that alternately rises and falls in pitch over several bars. To add variety to a walking bassline, bassists periodically interpolate various fills, such as playing scale or arpeggio fragments in swung eighth notes, plucking muted percussive grace notes (either one grace note or a "raked" sequence of two or three grace notes), or holding notes for two, three, or four beats. Some songs lend themselves to another type of variation: the pedal point, in which the bassist holds or repeats a single note (often the tonic or the dominant) under the chord changes.

Walking basslines are usually performed on the double bass or the electric bass, but they can also be performed using the low register of a piano, Hammond organ, tuba or other instruments. They can also be sung. While walking bass lines are most commonly associated with jazz and blues, they are also used in rock, rockabilly, ska, R&B, gospel, latin, country, and many other genres.

A good example in classical would be the Walking Bass in the pedal part of baroque organ music (J.S. Bach's Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659, from the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes):

In short the walking bass with the DeCappo is vague, lacking clarity, hiding in the shadows, missing in action, softer, as you stated above. With the M-Lore the walking bass is fully there, clear and present. More so with the Lore which reaches down to 30hz. On Jazz albums such as THE GREAT SUMMIT/Complete Sessions with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Deluxe Edition (Great Recording), Mort Herbert's double bass is so good with body, wood, buzzing, snapping, the M-lore gets it all. The DeCappo doesn't.
Bass is where less efficient speakers will struggle more off just a few watts in some way. Its never good to work an amp too hard when it comes to detail, bass or otherwise.
Mikirob you guys will learn alot about how an amp works and as I mentioned to Rebbie you'll learn that you can tweak a part or two in the amp to taylor the sound to your liking. I have no idea how Audio Note speakers sound with Alnico drivers. It is the highest level AN speaker kit.

Mapman, well said. One's amp should be relaxed and as comfortable as possible and the music will sound that way too. Makes me wonder about why there are so many different operating points that manufacturer's run their 300b amps at. Some really hot like 80-90 mA and some around 60mA or less. Arguments on both side make my head spin