What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

All of this recent discussion is exactly why there is no substitute for an audition in one's own system and room, fully equipped with one's own music and prejudices and preferences.

Rebbi has done an heroic job of doing his homework. I stand in awe (and envy) of his patient deliberation. But the reality is that all of his work, and my reasonably informed opinion, isn't worth 20 minutes of an in home audition.

As the brick and mortar paradigm becomes less and less prevalent, those designers that offer in home auditions are going to have a real leg up. Such a program does drive the cost up, but does a lot to ensure happy customers. I am solidly in Charles' "how does it sound" camp. Nothing short of an in home audition satisfies that question.

As a long time Magnepan fan, I spent far too much time shaking my head in uniformed amusement at those who chose to drive their Maggies with 60WPC tube amps. In retrospect, it is a pity I never took the time to do even a casual audition. Too much left brain, not enough right brain. This is music. It is about an emotional response, differential equations notwithstanding.

I think Rebbi has made a great choice, and I am eager to hear how things go with his experiment.

Charles1dad,
Yes, I'd love to see a head to head comparison of the Dynamo and either the Decware Zen Torii (25 watt PP) or the "Rachael" (6 watt SE). I considered both of those amps until I decided to shoot for 300b and went for the Audio Note Kit 1.
As for the quality of the "iron" of the output transformers, the ad copy for the "Rachael" says:

"OUTPUT TRANSFORMER COUPLING
The Zen is a very stable amplifier capable of driving all high efficiency loudspeakers because of it's transformer-coupled output stage. This creates a hand-shake between the amplifier and the loudspeaker and protects the speaker from DC voltages should a tube ever fail. Of course most tube amplifiers use output transformers, which tend to be the most expensive single components in the amp. This is where most amplifiers fall short by trying to impress you with big heavy transformers of average or low quality. The more power the amp has, the more likely it is to use moderate quality transformers - at best."

Interesting, eh?

Brownsfan,
Thanks for the kind words. I totally agree that the proof is in the listening And yes, you are correct: after all this investigation as well as the effort to build this amp, I may find that the Audio Note Kit 1 sounds like a total pile of poop in my humble listening room. I mean, I certainly hope not, but listening with my gear and my music in my room will be the only meaningful way to evaluate this whole process.
As for my patience, well, a lot of that had to do with a tight budget; not a lot of room for costly mistakes!

Okay:

My Audio Note Kit 1 build blog is live; not much content, yet, obviously, but it's right here.

Hi Rebbi,
I hadn't commented in this thread, but I also use 300B amplifiers. (And 45)
I really enjoyed "The Lessons from Baby Elephants" at the bottom of your blog.
Best of luck with your build.