Would You Rather Own A Good SET Amp, Or A Great Push Pull Amp?

EL34 certainly has the natural mids, highs can sound a bit rolled but I found various methods to solve this. Bass was the one area I found EL34 a bit wanting, sometimes a bit soft and warm, never could get impact AND tuneful, articulate bass. Sure I could have attained better with more work and finding sympathetic partnering equipment, attempts at this ended with discovery of 845 SET. And then we come to present Frankenstein Khorns, 845 is excess, its like a brute compared to the subtlety and refinement of 300B. The EL84 PP is right up there in refinement, subtlety, natural presentation, also has extended highs, more articulate, forceful bass than EL34. Bass very similar to 300B in my setup, virtually exact same settings on volume/gain, no change in sub settings. And this with REL subs, so high level settings connect to amp binding post and chassis ground, supposedly REL's take on personality of amps to some extent. 300B sometimes gets bad rap on bass, I hear no issues and I'm a stickler for articulate, tuneful bass.

Bottom line, I can very much relate to lowtubes in regard to comparison between SET and PP, in my case this being 300B and EL84. Difference with micro dynamics is present issue, but this early days.

This question is wildly subjective but that's ok.

I think the first question is what kind of speakers you are using. I've been the proud owner of a pair of Klipschorns for the past 48 years, so I can use any amp I want and I have owned many over the years.

The best set up for my system is bi-amping. I use a pair of Klein-Hummel 80 WPC channel transistor amps for the bass and I keep in rotation 10 different amps of various power and circuit configurations for the mids and highs in both tube and transistor output.

I have experienced stunning results with my 30 WPC Sony V-fet and Accuphase 30 WPC Pure class A transistor amps. My push-pull 8 WPC Eastern Electric 6BM8 tube amp offers phenomenal performance. I have realized similar results with my restored 15 WPC 1958 built Fisher 30-A tube mono blocs and my Dennis Had built tube amp that can use 7 different output tubes: the 5881, 6550, and KT88 are my favorites, again running 5 to 12 WPC.

Bottom line for me? SET at the end of the day. With the K-horns SET is simply magical!!

@hwr stated " I've been the proud owner of a pair of Klipschorns for the past 48 years, " 

Hats Off to You , being dedicated to a particular End Sound and the knowing of how it is capable of impressing is a very good place to be.

My ESL 57's both as Single Height and Stacked Array share similarities in their age with you own Speakers and a Pair are with me since the 90's.

They have been used on a variety of Valve Amp's and I have also heard the same model on a extended range of Amp's in PP - SET - OTL - SS.

I am always left impressed.

Are Vintage ESL's the best Speaker, certainly not, I have other Speakers that are parity in their attraction and leave very good impression as an End Sound.

Vintage ESL's and Valves have been part of my audio interest for more than half of my adult life, they have a place that is permanent as long as I am with health and hearing.  

I am a converted SET user, I failed to Wed to them at another time in life and very recently have found it difficult to consider anything else to listen to, but the 300b SET recently brought into the home system.

Helping out a Widower with my becoming a buyer of a few of the deceased Spouses audio devices has certainly been a game changer in my little world of audio, in both Amp' Design and Speaker Design. 

Hello, this is an interesting discussion that is relevant to solid state designs too, of course. Speaking of that, and  bringing this discussion down to the level of physics and transmission of sound waves through air, what about this assertion from Nelson Pass:

https://www.passlabs.com/technical_article/single-ended-class-a/

Virtually all the amplifiers on the market are based on a push-pull symmetry model. The push-pull symmetry topology has no particular basis in nature. Is it valid to use air’s characteristic as a model for designing an amplifier? If you accept that all processing leaves its signature on the music, the answer is yes.

Enjoyed reading this thread.  Educational, many different points of view, civil discussion so lacking in other threads these days.  Well done!