Tekton Double Impacts

milpai:
Am using Emotiva XPA-1L mono blocks that produce 500 watts each at 4 ohms BUT, for the first 60 watts, pure class A. Most of the listening on the DI is, therefore, in class A and this makes a noticeable improvement. Find that large orchestral recordings demand a great deal of wattage and suspect that high wattage and Mahler are friends...
Cannot imagine how 90 DBs of large soundstage can be produced with 1 or 2 watt tube amps but the knowledgeable folks on this thread know the answer.

@milpai  As you can see, an interesting mix. 

Thoughts / concerns, since you asked the question?

@corelli , I love the bottom end with this set up, thank you very much! A quick impression of the monitors, Out of the box I was not overly impressed, good but was'nt sure what the hype was about. About 20-50 hrs.they started to open up and I just love them. It's just great to sit in front of them and think, WOW. My wife has been continously impressed when she joins in the listening session. I would recomend these to anyone! They're just fantastic to listen to.I will be putting the (twice as much) Kismet monitors in soon for a comparison,but actually, I don't really want to.:)

Hi everybody,

I have now rolled three SET 300B amplifiers with some of the best NOS tubes available, along with the Triode Lab 2A3s-MK2, and have come to the conclusion, based of course on my personal preferences, that I have heard nothing better on the DI's then the 2A3 amplifier being driven by the Micro-ZOTL.  If you other guys that love the LTA Micro-ZOTL  driving the DI's directly heard this combo I have a hunch you would be totally enchanted, indeed!  You get all of what the Micro-ZOTL has to offer with more beautiful tonality/timbres and the best 3D meat on the bone imaging but it never sounds like great HiFi, it sounds like real music.  It draws you into the emotion of the music and lets you more often suspend the experience that you are listening to a stereo system.  I made one change upstream with putting a pair of NOS Brimar (6060) yellow T decal 12AT7 in the Micro-ZOTL, and the change was a shift to a higher level across the total spectrum.  The SET 300B amplifiers were all great sounding too, however, they just did not sound as natural to me as the 2A3 amp.

I wish the individuals who are experienced with high power SS amplifiers on the DI's could spend some time with a SET amplifier, they might find it very hard to go back to their SS gear.

Instead of writing individual reviews on these different amps for hometheaterreview, I'm going to write a feature piece detailing the history of SET amps/tubes (and how each amp sounded on the DI's) and why historically they could only be used with horn or single driver speakers (which I never liked with a very few exceptions), until Eric's break through allowed these "Flea amps" to create magic with a full range multi-driver box speaker.

I have one more experiment to run and that is to get a 45 SET in-house to finish out this fun ride with the DI's.

 

Thanks teajay,

Great write up.........as per usual. I was leaning towards the Triode Labs 2A3S- FXX with the Hashimoto output transformers. It's a done deal now. If all goes well I'll get their 2A3 monoblocks. As much as I love driving the DI's with the MZ2 I realize there's always room for improvement and by your description the 2A3 is just what the doctor ordered. 

Ill have to try the Brimar 6060's. Right now I'm loving the combination of 40's Mullard 12AT7's with 40's Sylvania 12SN7's. I have the TungSol round plates and like them a lot but prefer the high end detail and realism of the Sylvania's. That's what's great about tubes.....a flavor for every listener. 

Thanks for for sharing all of your experiences, it's been very helpful.