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Favorite 300B: Sophia vs KR


Which do you prefer; S.E.T. Princess 300B Carbon Plate or KR 300B WE Clone?

I've only experienced NOS 40's/50's WE so my expectations are pretty high. Which do you think captures the essence of the WE most closely? I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible so EAT is not an option, as much as I was blown away by their KT88. I considered current WE but they're not in production until Spring 2011.

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sakahara
maxmad
182 posts
 
Cheap Chinees, such as TJ's or other's have problems to keep bias at the level, they just don't, so, if I were you, I would buy from trusty source and the high quality only. I have read a lot about 300B's and many of them just dont have the quality level, however they may sound pretty good, but like many already said, if they will be dead in a short time, why bother?
Go for EML's or KR's, but tubular, earlier production type. I own a pair and they are very good.
onemug
784 posts
 
Very happy with the EML 300b solid plate. Would love to try their mesh.
maxmad
182 posts
 
The problem with EML's Mesh, they cant be used on any 300B amp, bad, very bad, cos I am very interested in them. My amp is Cary CAD 300B SEI.
maxmad
182 posts
 
I ment, ON EVERY 300B amp, sorry guys...
sakahara OP
181 posts
 

Charles1dad: No disrespect intended. I was only generally commenting on cheaper 300B production. I may in deed enjoy the sound of the Shuguang Treasure Series 300B. I just have a predilection for the original; NOS WE. And I haven't heard any other 300B either. I would have liked to, but once I had those vintage beauties in place there was no reason to disturb the sound. Maybe it was $$$ bias since they cost so much. But the overall system sound was glorious. Now I'm only trying to narrow down my choices and hopefully come away with one that satisfies both my senses and budget.

I'll always be very skeptical when it comes to the cheap vacuum tube versions, or when manufacturers insist you use theirs, compared to NOS.

I won't be buying the KR WE Clone because of the reliability/warranty issues, even though it technically should be a perfect match for my SET monos and thus warrantied. That's unfortunate, although their position of denying warranty to some customers is understandable. It's designed to certain specs (matched to their amps) and other amp designs may not be compatible, hence the premature failure. Tube makers don't like to mention this fact because they want you to use their tubes, but you need to check specs before rolling ahead, especially with NOS, and making sure it is a proper variant. I haven't run into any issues so far but I've had a few NOS and current production tubes fail before their time. Not bad though when compared to how many tubes I've had and hrs used.

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