SET sound without a lot of money

ERFRANKE,

What are your goals and expectations on volume? Large room or small? I'm new here but have a fair amount of listening done on various SET amps with different speaker combo's. I'm not as full of technical specs as some but can maybe give you a nugget of info that may help. WARNING.....listening to a good SET amp can be very addicting and have you starting over from ground zero.....LOL

The Sophia Electric Baby is NOT a SET amplifer. It is a Class-A push-pull design.

Sophia Eletric's webpage for the Baby clear specifies that *S.E.T. Music Baby Amplifier stands for *Sophia Electric Technology. Not Singled Ended Triode.

The tube used in the Baby is a 6P1T. That's a pentode, not a triode. I don't mean to piss on your parade, but if you think the Baby is giving you SET sound, you're just fooling yourself.

Listening area is small, 10'x10' and sitting distance from the speakers is close; direct energy listening without acoustic wall treatments. The set up is intimate to say the least but good for listening at low to moderate levels where detail can really come through. Jazz, vocals, acoustic, some orchestrated pieces, contemporary pop is the music genre.

Even sitting close, sound stage, air, holographic imaging of the OTLs are amazing. Still, curiosity over other circuit/tube designs have got the better of me, anyone else out there relate?

Boy can I relate!! I went through Various Triode, Pentode and Push Pull tube amps.....etc. Vandersteen, Legacy, Klipsch, a few monitors with subs.....etc. I'm in a very similar size room with very similar taste in music. I was always missing something in my listening sessions. I've even heard a $250,000.00 system that still wasn't what I was looking for. The system was great on presence, imaging and staging but was very fatiguing and straining to listen to. Take a look at my system. It's in the building stages but is still very rewarding to listen to. After I heard a good SET amp on some efficient speakers ( I'm talking 97db or greater )I've never looked back. This is just one persons opinion and it's not for everyone but I at least recommend giving it a try. I feel you will really need more efficient speakers though before you switch over to an SET amp. The amp won't be allowed to shine to it's potential. FYI...I just added a Cary AE-3 pre amp tonight and OH MY.....just what I needed to drive my 45SET amp. Good gain and soundstage with no coloration over my passive volume control that I've been using.

1gear, your enthusiasm is contagious....