What's likely to happen when an 845 tube fails?

I'm not sure, but I've heard it from reliable sources that a bad 845 will explode, showering the room with glass and poison gas and killing everyone within a 3 mile radius. But that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Phil, Thanks again for your excellent input. Many of the points you make, I've either heard or read before so I was already thinking along the same lines. All things being fairly equal, the extra power of an 845 seems preferable to the alternatives and certainly provides more flexibility.

Chayro, thanks too for your comments. I'll make sure to wear a protection suit when I'm listening!

213cobra, "most 300B amps have had too little discipline in the deep bass region to be usable on truly full-range speakers."

Although someone here recently disagreed vehemently with me on this point, I agree with Phil's comment.

Also, I might have heard the same 845 amp Phil uses at a Zu get together two months ago here on the East Coast, though I'm not sure.

Bob, I've been around the DeHavilland 845 monos you're considering, both at the local dealer who had it on display, and at the customer (our own Sbank) who wound up purchasing it. They're quite a competent, and I believe, well-engineered pair of amplifiers.

That said, I'm going to guess the amplifier is going to be used in powering your Fried C3/L-C4 satellites. Is that right or wrong? If it is those speakers, as we've discussed many times, you don't need very much at all to drive them, and low end isn't a concern in this instance. After yesterday, where I was at an old tube amplifier builder friend's workshop, and we drove an old pair of Dynaco A25 with a 2 wpc 45 SET amp, I'm more convinced about the Fried's requirements than I was before that. No matter what you go with, the Frieds will be more than fine.

Joe, correct, the 845's will only power my sats, running full range. It's amazing how much cleaner and extended bass is since Joel and I switched to the ScanSpeak's. Bass duties still relegated to powered subs(blended in around 50Hz).

I picked up a couple pairs of the rediculously priced Dueland Cast caps not long ago and am anxious to hear their effects. With only one cap and two inductors in the x-over, everything matters.

Joe, I forgot to mention, "Charlesdad" brought over his 8 wpc 300B Coincident Frankenstein's a while back. He wanted to hear them in my system with my MP-1 and I was glad to oblige.

Running only my sats(they're not really Fried's anymore so Joel and I refer to them as FrankenFried's), in my 28'x 22' great room with 11' ceiling, 8 watts was more than enough to fill the room at SPL's that were more than adequate and then some. Really nice amps!

Personally though, I'd still prefer a bit more power and control, thus my interest in the 845.