Need help : Single ended, Low power, SET amps..

hello, single end amps are very simply if you look at signal paths and parts count to me this is why they sound so great but they have to run a speaker with high sensitivity to sound there best .You can run a whole speaker of a s.e.t. amp but they role off the treble and bass some what.So mix and match I say ,if you want a tube amp that can run most speakers than your choice is a push pull .they do tend to distort the signal or stretch notes.they do give you a taste of what tubes can do s.e.t.s give you a so much more musicality than push pulls but they dont do frequincy extremes as well.trade offs are what audio is all about

Tweek, check out the Lowther America website. They have improved the Lowther drivers with a re-designed whizzer cone that has a rolled edge. I supposedly eliminates the midrange resonance peak that previously plagued Lowther drivers. They also changed the suspension ring from a rolled out to a rolled in. Smoothed out response there too. New,optional phase plug design is questionable but new just the same. Old one still standard. I just ordered a pair of new DX3 with all the mods. I am making a set of Voight Pipe enclosures to start with and may go to a somewhat more exotic enclosure later. Their new "Big Fun Horn" looks pretty good as a back loaded bass horn design which extends the full-range Lowther down to 32HZ on the low end. Even if it rolls off at 12db from there, it will still only be about 6db down at 24Hz. Not bad for a single driver. Goes to 22kHz at the high end. 98db at 1watt input unloaded. About 100db at 1watt in a cabinet. Not sure if I am all that wild about a corner horn though. Still researching. In any cabinet you choose, though, the Lowther is a great choice for a SET amp. You get great sound with great efficiency and detail with decent accurate bass depth and maybe real good bass depth with the corner horn. Front wave is not horn loaded so it does not "honk" in the mids. How's that? New improved Lowther + Big Fun Horn Cabinet + SET = WOW!! Nothing can touch it! :-) Have fun.

Twl, even though full range Lowthers and Fostex may out-class the commercials, the Seas+Accuton+Philips should provide overall dynamic musicality. The DIY building the speakers says the Push-pull tube is just the thing. I hope one day to hear a Lowther, im sure the imaging is just super and may be more dynamic than a electrostat. Tmcroy, i've looked at active. But i think a superior passive xover in parts and in tweaked design (DIY) will allow the amp to deliver a better sound. Between amp and drivers , least is best. John, trade offs in amps is an issue. I could not sacrifice the FQ's in the high and low end with a good SET. I won't know the potential of this Jadis until i get the new speakers. MY B&W's and Philips lack finesse.

My dream single ended amp is the Berning Siegfried. Someday, maybe........ :)

I recently purchased a Terra Engineering Star 10. It uses el34, kt88, or 6550 tubes. It puts out ten watts and has a volume control. I have to admit, this little monster can bring across low level detail like I've never heard before. I generally prefer my ARC vt100/bat vk-5i setup, but there are parts of a recording that only the SET amp can bring accross.

I have it hooked up to my mcintosh mr71 tube tuner and a set of (believe it or not) Gallo Nucleas Micro's. The micros are 92db efficient. There is not a lot of weight behind the instruments, so you seem to be listening to a very detailed, delicate 'sonic image' of the instruments that is 'floating' in the soundstage. Some of this is a characteristic of the Gallo's, but I hear a similar effect when I hook the underpowered terra to my audio physic avanti's, or my Spica TC-60's.

Like tax rules, there is a surrealistic quality to them. It's not quite reality, but some aspects come across more perfectly than any amp I've heard. Bass guitar for example does not sound real at all - it's very distant, weak, and shallow sounding, but you hear the fingering more. Violins, Trumpet and the upper register of a piano sound more detailed and intricately textured than I've ever heard. The plink is just right.

Vocals are affected similarly. You hear more delicate inflections, but some information is also lost. Jesse Norman does not come accross as being ten times more powerful than Chet Baker, yet you hear Chet's sad ass, no smiles for miles wimpering more distinctly than ever before.

I played trumpet 20 years ago. I realized when listening to the set amp that I could hear the air rushing through and resonating with the instrument's brass. Blow into a plastic diet coke bottle (you know, the whislin sound), then image a 100 Watt ARC tube amp trying to replicate that sound. The arc amp can't do it, the SET amp can.