Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Rebbi,
The AN Kit 1 300b Amplifier really seems like it's an exceptionally well built and very good sounding amplifier. You are getting excellent performance from this amplifier using the standard grade 300b tubes. Just think of the room for improvement with just simply moving to a higher grade of 300b tubes somewhere down the line, not to mention trying different power cords. As well as your amplifier currently sounds there's room for improvement with just those simple suggestions, you have a lot to look forward to even though you're at a high-level already. Your high-quality SET amplifier is just filled with lovely potential.
Charles

Map,
The amp is 17 inches wide and 12.5 inches deep. The highest point on the amp is the very top of the 300B tubes, which measures about 9 inches high from the surface of the shelf the amp sits on.
I would not recommend running the amp in an area without all around ventilation. The tubes and mains transformer get quite hot - the tubes get "burn your fingers hot" - once the amp is fully warmed up and playing, and I would want to make certain that this heat could be adequately dissipated. But I think Brian would be the guy to ask about what constitutes adequate ventilation.

Yes, Charles, thanks, I believe the amp does have lots of potential. Better 300B's and an upgraded power cord are possibilities. Then there are also the Audio Note Copper Foil caps that could easily be swapped in for the Mudorf Gold/Silver/Oil caps I now have.
Brian said that the Audio Note C-Core output trannies are amazing, but you really need to live with the stock trannies (which are custom designed and build for ANK and of which he is clearly very proud) for awhile in order to appreciate what the C-Cores are about. They are also jaw-droppingly expensive, but I think he buys those directly from Audio Note UK and doesn't have much wiggle room on pricing.
Charles, you are so right about the qualities of a good SET amp. I was listening tonight to HD Tracks downloads of "Paul Simon Live In New York City" and was just transported by the sense of "almost attending the concert." It's wonderful.

Rebbi,

Thanks for all the time and energy you shared with all of us. It was a wonderful ride with a very happy ending.

Rebbi,
So happy that all is finally settled and your problems with the amp are over. Now it's time to enjoy!

Charles,
Now is as good a time as any to update you on my experience with the Black Treasure 300b tubes that I bought a few weeks ago.Yes, they are breaking in and changing a lot, and I am much happier than I was in the beginning. It is apparent that this amp can sound very different depending on the tubes which are used.
What threw me off at first was the entirely different presentation of the Black Treasures. They are more forward, while at the same time having more solidly defined and powerful bass. When I say forward, I should be clear that the stock Shuguang 300b tubes were recessed somewhat in the midrange, but made up for that with a crystalline clarity.
The Black Treasures are not too forward, just overall more linear from top to bottom. They sounded flat and lacking depth and dimension, and that is surely changing now. Timbres, microdynamics and the general flow have all improved, and I am not near 300 hours yet.
These tubes are more "modern" in sound in that they are somewhat "drier" than the somewhat more liquid and romantic stock tubes. The payoff is that there is more body on the bottom end of saxophones, and pianos are more precisely portrayed, with faster stops and starts, and without the slight "ringing" I was hearing with the stock tubes.
Overall, I am really beginning to enjoy these tubes, and like some others on this thread, I have certainly come to respect the emotional as well as the intellectual insights that SET amplification can bring to reproduced music.
One more comment about the stock 300b tubes...I still like them. Even when I had nothing to compare them to, I could recognize their deficiencies, as I will with the Black Treasures when they are fully burned in; but like a friend or lover who is imperfect or quirky, there is still a personality in those tubes which offers a lot to love, and is very communicative.
I am glad that you, like myself Rebbi, had such a positive experience with Pete. He indeed does beautiful work, and I could not have done the same for myself, so the modest extra charge was money well spent.
Again, I can't make any comparative comments about the C- core transformers, but my amp sounds great. How much of that is down to the transformers I don't know.
Time for you to have fun now,
Thanks for the narrative, All the Best, John