SET the best?

I went from 3.5 watt 2a3 SET monoblock amps made by George Wright and his very fine preamp plus a very nice set of IM Ben speakers made by Terry Cain. These were large folded horns, single driver speakers. Also paired the Cain & Cain sub with the Cain & Cain Ben's.

Liked the sound as I wanted a nice engaging and warm sound. The kind that just draws you into the music without a hint of glare, brightness, aggressiveness or listener fatigue. Got all that, but in the end I missed those times when I really wanted to hear and feel the impact of live music. This set up was awesome but lacked the scale and impact I also like. It was good for a year, but I had to find what I missed and not give up that wonderful warm and intimate sound.

My quest over the last 3 years was to do this. I have never liked most of today's hyper detailed speakers and wire. As an example today's Dali speakers (800's) can't hold a candle to the older and discontinued Dali Grand that can be found for $1500 or so used. Sure they soar higher and give more detail, but I wanted to leave the room in 10 minutes. Warmth, body and musicality is what I want with effortless power and dynamics when called for.

Found the same with wire. Most highly touted wire is to front row and detailed for me. Give me that cable that some call boring and just kind of "there".

For me, I found I did not have to settle for SET and the limitations it had for me. Others don't find my so called SET limitations limiting and I respect that for them.

I ended up with the following and have the best of both worlds. It has taken lots of time and effort. The key was getting the right speaker. The Silverline Bolero is a refined speaker that does not force you to "take notice of me I'm a loudspeaker". Great warmth and depth with glorious body. Stage is set back and they throw a huge stage. They can handle 1000 watts when called for and sound so effortless.

I like using a first rate tube pre and SS amps. I got both from TRL, Tube Research Labs. Amazingly musical pieces.

I desire wire that has warth and body. I like gold and copper in the IC's. I like Acrolink power cables as they are warm and full bodied. I like KCI Silkworm and Audio Horizons Dimension IC's.

With proper system matching and the right gear I think you can have the best of both worlds. Large scale, impact in your chest experience and wonderful, warm intimate music.

If you want to travel the SET route it is fun to be sure. The experience is something you really must go through to understand the SET thing for yourself. For some, unless they experience it they will always wonder. That is me!

I was one of the pioneering voices of the SET movement and as I grew with the hobby I discovered that as good as SET amplifiers are, there are not as many good loudspeakers to complete the chain. Having heard well set up-up Wilsons, Magicos and owning MBL 101Es I can honestly say that the speaker is t-h-e most important variable in a high end system. SET is incomparable if you have uber expensive amplifiers mated with loudspeakers that you (can) allow to have certain faults; like lack of LF or lack of dynamics, or lack of finesse. There is no magic bullet speaker for SET. On the other hand, great speakers like MBLs and numerous others allow for many different amplifiers and combos that you can tailor to your taste. In SET land the dog's tail is wagging the dog-- with great speakers and higher powered amps the dog is wagging the tail. I've lived it, reviewed it, and promoted it and it's just the way it is. Some may say that you can cheat physics with big Wilsons and low powered Lamms but a question mark hangs over my head with these set ups. I think that you may be shortchanging both products and ending up with neither fish nor foul.

A great SET systen is very satisfying, with hints of human realism, almost stylisticly so. A great Wilson, Rockport MBL, Magico (fill in the blank) system is like being at a concert, though matching ancillary equipment is very demanding. Both are fun, but only one is like being there.

Peter

Count me in for "Yes" stats.

Went planar, electrostatic, vintage, single driver, with both SS and tube amps not less than 30 watts and speakers as high as 94 dB efficiency. I was happy but still something was missing I thought per my preferrence.

I found my heaven on both DIY flea powered SET/High efficiency coaxial speaker(100dB) with a simple topology active preamp and so far still enjoying it. To me, speakers should be at least 97 dB and above, the higher the better. Power not more than 6 watts (I will not be surprised if I am oly using less than a watt on normal listening level. If it doesn't sound good at 1 watt, why need more?). Also, I found my preferrence on using DHT tubes with AC on the heaters for output tubes of the amp and old type DHT/IDHT tubes (currently using 76) on the preamp side.

To me, although it is hard for me to describe it, there is something about speakers with 98 dB and above efficiency, full range, using 45/2A3 tubes with AC on the filaments that 96 dB and below speakers cannot touch. But the trick is to make the amps quiet so that hum will not be an issue.

YMMV!