Your journey with lower-watt tube amps -- Can a kit be good enough?

I have plenty of dynamics, no roll off at frequency extremes with my Tron 211 amplifier used with my Mhorn speakers rated at 93db. I easily get sound in the 90db+ in my 15x18 listening area.  It’s all about speaker matching and how well the amplifier is built in reference to power supplies.  The amplifier needs to have power reserves when needed. I have use 45, 2a3, 300b and 211 tubes in amplifiers I have owned over the years.  I agree with most on the 45 and 2a3 power output that you need 98db efficiency plus speakers(I prefer 100db +).  I used both of these tubes in Yamamoto and Triode Lab amplifiers with Klipsch Forted IV and that was in a larger room and was satisfied with the sound.  The 45 tube is the best sounding to me but your only going to get so much volume out of it and that’s a tube that I think needs 102db or better to get the most out of it unless your in a smaller room or near field setting.  PM me if you want to chat more about it.

Good luck

Don

@cfarrow Thanks for relating all that. Really interesting.

FWIW, last night I did some listening comparisons comparing the Sun Valley 845 vs. QS Mono 60 w/ KT77 tubes. I used my solid state amp (very neutral) and my Holo Spring DAC. All of my descriptions relate to how things sound in *my* room, of course.

Main impressions: Sun Valley 845's tonality was a bit softer, more detailed, further back in the soundstage, and slightly narrower soundstage (but very good); the bass was weaker, sometimes too weak. It was a bit less snappy in transients but still quite good—not sloppy at all. Instruments and voices had a bit more texture. It was very easy to listen to; never strident or approaching strident.

QS had better transients and dynamics by a bit; it had much better bass, and instruments were more forward in the soundstage. Voices and instruments were detailed but not as much, a bit less warm and intimate.

Overall: hard to say which is better. They were different, though both obviously tube amps. I suspect that a tube amp like the Sun Valley with a bit more grip on the speakers which keeps the intimate/texture/smoothness and improves the bass might beat them both. 

Not sure if any of this translates for folks, but sharing just in case.

 Sun Valley 845 doesn't use an inter-stage transformer between driver and 845 tube.

845 is impossible to drive without IT! You get more driver tube distortions than 845 output stage distortions. You also can't get a good deep and fast bass.

The same I can say about 300B. But 845 is much more difficult to drive than 300B!

For PX25, 2a3, 45 output tube or if kt88/kt66/el34/6L6/6v6 used as SE output in triode mode you can receive a good sound without an inter-stage transformer.

I use a 2016 Dennis Had Firebottle HO (high output, whatever THAT means...max 15 watts pc or something? Likely less with some tubes but, meh...) that sounds astonishingly good with my 99db horns (mid horn damped titanium mid and tweeter drivers Heresy IIIs), and swap that amp with a Pass XA-25 when the mood strikes. 2 REL subs resulting in absolutely no lack of bass, tons of headroom with either amp, and joy in my brain. These amps sound somewhat different but both are so good and similarly mirth inducing that I simply don't need anything else. 

To @wolf_garcia, which output tubes did you land on for your DH Firebottle HO amp?