EL34 in triode vs 300B/845 SET

thanks trelja and salectric

@trelja, I've also actually been eyeing Consonance Cyber880A with 2A3x8 in pp.  But doesn't going to pp design automatically cancel out the crystal clear clarify signature of SET?  I have no experience with triode tube in pp, can you share your experience?  I read that there's a newer 2A3C tube that's a tuned down 300B with lower 2.5V plate watt but still makes 8watt.  Do you know if 2A3C can be drop in replacement for 2A3?

@salectric, I've also contemplating El34x8 pp as meaning next step up.  Do you know what's the sonic difference between a 300B in parallel SET PSET and pp?  300B makes about similar 18-22watt in these configuration.  PSET is very rare vs PP is much easier to find.

thanks both

@hifinubee it looks like you’ve picked the B&W loudspeakers over the Dared 300B amplifier?

The Shuguang 2A3C may be my favorite current production non-exotic output tube. For just a few dollars, we transitioned from the 2A3B to 2A3C with the Consonance Cyber 10 Signature, and it proved an instant upgrade. Again, I recommend you seek out one of those integrated amplifiers. The tube worked anywhere I’ve used it without issue, and provided excellent sound. I have seen it not physically fit into some amplifiers because of its noticeably larger glass envelope / bulb.  As much as I love the 2A3, it doesn't offer enough power to make a usable SET amplifier in the way a 300B does.  Run it in push-pull configuration, and it can drive the typical loudspeaker, and I believe definitely leaps over the 300B.

The Cyber 880A would have no trouble driving your B&Ws, and certainly offers good sound. As you said, you’re getting away from the SET sound with it. Not only does it use a push-pull output stage, but the Mullard long-tail pair driver moves at least two steps up in complexity from the typical SET, and as I’ve said, most often, the simpler the amplifier, the more immediate the sound. That’s a huge part of the SET magic, the simplest output tubes used in the simplest output stage, and normally driven by a very simple circuit.

The other issue I have with this amplifier is now you’re talking serious money, and more than double your target price. Of course, if you can find a used one, that might fit. I don’t think higher priced Chinese amplifiers make sense from the standpoint of economics or logic today. The market seems to agree, as I don’t see anyone moving anything in this realm beyond the midrange price point. Since I no longer represent the brand in North America, customers have no support, service, safety net, etc., and so the brand pretty much disappeared from this market outside of re-badging their solid state amps and CD players as Hegel. The current Consonance importer operates more or less as an order taker, and the factory in China drop ships directly to the customer. The customer gets to pay substantially more for the simple task of a middleman invoicing the purchase. It’s lose - lose, and a poor way to do business on all levels in my mind

I have never heard a single-ended amp with DHT output tubes in parallel (PSET).  I have read that putting a pair of DHT tubes like 2A3 or 300B in parallel tends to move the sound away from the SE sound and towards a push-pull sound, but that is only secondhand, not based on experience.

i can say from experience that I prefer the sound of a very high quality push-pull amp to the SE DHT amps I have heard.  By very high quality PP, I mean something like a custom amp using Western Electric 350B outputs and vintage transformers or Emotive Audio Vita amps with KT-120 outputs.  (I own the Vita amps.)

hifineubee

Make your life easy and get a pair of 300b friendly speakers. They won't sound so anal and you won't feel the need for a subwoofer. 

Please allow me to provide a slightly different perspective. I am not a big fan of the 300B, or maybe it's that I haven't yet heard a 300B amp that rang my bell.  Anyway, was looking for a new SET amp and ran across Radu Tarta's website:  https://simplepleasuretubeamps.wordpress.com/2017/12/02/shiny-eyes-se-ul-el34-6sl7-tube-amplifier/

Long story short, I ended up purchasing Radu's single-ended EL34 amp and one of his DHT preamps.  I couldn't be happier with the sound, the build quality is second to none and rolling EL34 tubes is a lot easier and more affordable than 300Bs.

At some point I'm going to ask Radu to make me a 45 amp for my office.  Then I'll be in the clover.