Tekton Double Impacts

Just in the for what it's worth category if any of you have an interest in EL84 amps for your DI's or other speakers ( I have Daedalus Argos V2' s)

I recently decided to give one a try (I'm an impulsive shopper)  and picked up a Finale Audio (sister company of Triode Lab) 7189 (2) integrated amp 20 wpc, though Frank at Finale said mine measured 22 wpc with the upgrade to Hashimoto output transformer vs the standard Hammond. I also had them upgrade to Mundorf silver in oil caps, and DH Labs RCAs. The amp can run EL 84, 7189, 6BQ5, or 7189A & EL84M.  I have about  70 hours on the amp and after about 30 hours I swapped in NOS GE 12AX7's and a RCA 5AR4 for the JJs that it came with, I left in the NOS Russian 6N14N-EBs (7189A equivalent) , though I just received an order of NOS GE 7189A's from Brent Jesse and will give them a try at some point. To my ears the amp is musical across the board with good separation and retrieval . I listen primarily to smooth jazz, blues, classic R&B, and some classic rock. 

I have been using the Berning 6b4g amp now for nearly a year. Mine was the first 6b4g amp Berning built. In fact he has even etched his signature on the amp. 

In the past I have used Dehavilland 845 Aries SET monoblocs with their Mercury preamp, a Rethm Gaanam amp, Vinnie Rossi’s amp, a customised 2a3 SET amp using Dave Slagle components including his nickel based output transformer along with his auto former vol control

I personally feel the Berning amp is way ahead. It captures all the magic of a 2a3 SET amp along with great extension and amazing dynamics. 

@premnath - that's some very nice amps you've owned. Very impressive the Berning 6b4g stands well ahead of those. You indicated they are built to order which explains why I haven't been able to find anything on his website. Can you confirm the specs for us? Someone mentioned earlier the Berning 6b4g is PP, output of 10 watts/channel and it costs $7K?  Thanks.

Hi Aric,
I can see the advantages of a parallel SET (PSET) design. One issue I’ve seen raised concerning this parallel configuration is maintaining equal power sharing from each tube in the pair. Apparently there’s a tendency for one of the tubes to become dominant and the other tube provides lesspower/current output.

Audio Note has been making PSETs for a long time and I assume that they have solved this problem. It seems that some other PSETs perhaps not. PSET 2A3 or 300b would seem a very good fit with the Double Impact/SE. 
Charles

After listening to the KT 150's for a few hours I put the KT 88's back in and the KT 88's are much more to my liking. The KT 150's provided a very big sound with extended highs ( too much so for me) but lacked the sweet midrange and overall musicality that the KT 88's provide in Aric's amp. That makes me wonder just how much more midrange magic a 2A3 or 300B SET from Aric would offer. The Transcend amp is my fav of all the amps I've owned and very much remind me of the sound achieved when Charles brought his Frankensteins over. I can't say that the Transcend is as good as the Frankensteins as its been a while since they were here but it brings about the same sense of realism in music that I remember the Frankensteins providing. That's saying a lot for Aric's amp! Suffice it to say I'm VERY happy with Aric's amp and it makes a great pairing with the DI's......and I'm sure it will with the SE's also. Time will tell.