What's the greatest bargain in SET these days?

Brownsfan,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, Tim Smith's review was much more thorough. Israel points out in his manufacturer's reply that Olsher never even mentions that the amp has a headphone section...
And I agree that if the stock rectifier is a turkey, then supply your customers with a better one. Heck, charge an extra $50 and supply a better one. $1299 may be a bargain for this kind of product, but it's still not small change.
As for the Kit 1, it's getting there. My backordered tubes shipped today. A few more hours of wiring and I should be ready to test.

Charles,
I agree with your point about system synergy, which is why using some one-off, DIY speaker for evaluation purposes makes so little sense. We know almost nothing of this speaker. Or, my goodness, if you suspect a mismatch, borrow a different set to try.

Oddly, Israel Blume expresses gratitude and appreciation in his manufacturer response. I mean, in the end it's a positive review but the middle section's pretty mixed.

My advice for people interested in tube amps and specifically the Dynamo is to spend the money required to obtain high quality tubes. I've seen enough feedback regarding this amplifier to belive it is very good and an exceptional value.It has a good simple circuit,good transformers and is well built.If It comes with average quality stock tubes, upgrade them. A well designed tube amp certainly responds to better tubes. The entire point is to achieve good sound that enhances music listening enjoyment. I understand why most manufactuers use cheap tubes as stock. Consumers can easily improve this variable and tailor the sound to their preference. It begins with a solid foundation(good quality amplifier) then the use of superior tubes to take it further.

I followed this principle with each tube amp I've owned over a span 20 years. With my current SET amplifier it's near amazing how it reflects the different 300b tubes I've owned and borrowed(generous loans). You can very easily hear the subtle and not so subtle characteristics of every single one of them. This is one of the great attributes of tube amps and makes owning them such a joy and rewarding experience. After well over 5 years of pure satisfaction with SETs I can't imagine using any other type of amplifier. Rebbi, I hope you have the same thrilling outcome with your Audio Note Kit 300b SET.

Charles,
Thanks for the good wishes and for being such a gentleman.

The 10.2 ohm source impedance is the thing to REALLY pay attention to when matching this amp to the appropriate speakers as Charles notes. That is a VERY high source impedance and would seriously limit the speakers it might be used with optimally. I can certainly imagine some compromises in performance when used with the wrong speaker. It seems designed with Coincident speakers in mind with their very high output impedance. I also totally agree with Charles that the quality of tubes used can make a HUGE difference in performance beyond the critical amp/speaker interface. One can't expect the best tubes in a 1.2K integrated amplifier. I would expect this amp could sound exceptional with the right speaker and some tube rolling. Dick Olsher is very technically oriented but could have been a bit more through in the why of what he heard. I agree that using a DIY speaker is not useful to most folks reading the review. He should have requested a pair of Coincident speakers or had on hand a speaker with a high enough output impedance to offer a fairer idea of what is possible with the Dynamo. What the reader is left with after the review is more questions than answers, at least I was. Dick has been at this long enough, he should have known better going into the review.

Maybe Al might chime in here with more technical insight.

Rebbi, thanks for calling attention to the Dynamo review. I haven't received my copy of that issue yet, but I'm particularly struck by the mention of the amp's high output impedance. A 10.2 ohm output impedance/source impedance on the 8 ohm tap will cause the resulting sonics to vary DRAMATICALLY as a function of the impedance vs. frequency characteristics of the particular speaker that is being used. The most neutral behavior being likely to occur with speakers having impedances that are both relatively flat as a function of frequency and relatively high. That is true of most SETs, but to a considerably greater degree than usual in this case due to the uncommonly high output impedance.

The 4 ohm tap will have a lower output impedance, most likely around half of that value, or 5.1 ohms, which is still quite high.

I assume, btw, that since those numbers aren't specified at the Coincident website that they were told to him by Mr. Blume, as TAS (in contrast to Stereophile) doesn't usually perform such measurements.

On another note, like the others I am very much enjoying following your extremely well done blog.

Best regards,
-- Al