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If you love SET amplifiers, boy do I have speaker for you.

I have had in-house for the last six weeks a pair of speakers that I'm reviewing for hometheaterreview.com from NSMT Loudspeakers, located in North Carolina, that are a perfect match with SET amplifiers.  I love SET amps.  However, historically I'm not a fan of single driver designs (rolled off high-end/lack of bass) or horn designs (I find them to have coloration that annoys me after a short while) that are normally used with beautiful sounding SET "Flea Watt" amps.  I have reviewed both types of speakers and they were good, but not keepers for me because of the above stated reasons.

The NSMT Model 50 is a small very attractive floor-stander which has an sensitivity rating of 101 dB and never dips below 8 ohms.  It is a three driver MTM two way design that loads into a double transmission line and really reaches down to 35Hz to 20 kHz in my room.  This is the third speaker I have reviewed from NSMT, the other two were wonderful music makers, and shows what a talented designer that Erol Ricketts is in all his designs at applying his unique version of transmission line loading. 

Now, the Model 50 sounds terrific with high power SS or tube based amplification.  But what has been enchanting for me is when I drive it with either a SET 2A3 amplifier, around 3.5 watts, or my Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL as an integrated using the NOS 1940's Tung-Sol 6SN7 black glass oval plate tubes which produce only around 1 Watt.  With either amplifier this speaker completely disappears, the beautiful colors/timbres just float out and 3D chunky images of the players fill the soundstage.  However, because of the very high sensitivity of the Model 50 and its transmission line loading the foundation of the music, true deep bass, and overall dynamics/dB levels are hard to believe.

So, if you have or always wanted to try out a SET amplifier this speaker is a great choice.  The Model 50 retails for $1,800.00 a pair, so they are very affordable to team-up with your SET amplifier.  If you want a lot more details just go to NSMT-loudspeakers website.    
teajay
teajay OP
1,691 posts
 
Hey brownsfan,

It will probably go up on hometheaterreview.com in March sometime. 

To drive a speaker with a 6SN7 is "mind boggling" without losing overall dynamics/lower bass/dB levels and keeping the beautiful purity of tonality, transparency, and 3D imaging that a pair of NOS Tung-Sol black glass oval plate delivers to a system.  I find this tube to be one of the most musical sounding devices I have ever heard.  It's not quite as "cozy" as a 2A3 tube (which is my favorite tube to listen to in a SET amp), but boy it has its own virtues that draw you into the music.  Actually, I never had heard a 6SN7 used as a power tube until I reviewed the Line Tube Audio MicroZOTL and used it as an integrated amplifier.  
davidantonio
29 posts
 
Thanks for sharing this information with the AudioGon community.
First time I’ve heard about this speaker company.  I think these speakers is what i need, the question is what 2A3 tube amplifier do you guys recommend that its price is under $2K?
I currently have a set of MiniMite Quicksilver mono amps with an output of 25 watts/channel. Will the MiniMites be an overkill for these speakers given that high sensitivity?
thanks,
Dan
teajay OP
1,691 posts
 
Hey Dan,

You should contact Aric (413-627-2543) of AricAudio who builds great tube gear at very reasonable prices.  If you look him up on different AudioGon threads you will read nothing but accolades about him as a person and the hand-crafted pieces he designs/builds.  I'm sure he would be able to build a 2A3 that would fit your budget. I have reviewed several of his pieces for hometheaterreview.com that would provide details about Aric and his designs. 

I have driven the Model 50 with a 200 watt SS amplifier and they sound great, so your Quicksilver amps would be no problem being a musical combination.    
aricaudio's avatar
aricaudio
273 posts
 
Hey Teajay! Thanks for the referral and also the kind words and including me in this thread as being a source for amplification. Here’s my honest take on the question posted by @davidantonio . To get a 2A3 amplifier "done right", there needs to be special care and certain implementations to the circuit that do raise the cost over say a KT88/120 based SE amp. The reason being, is that a low cost 2A3- would actually sound worse than a low cost KT88 single-ended amp. For under $2K I would not recommend a 2A3 but rather a KT88 SE amplifier as less is required in that circuit to obtain killer sound. The reasoning (in short), a 2A3 or 300B being true DHT SETs is more complex to obtain good sound. Several things needed are: isolation of the filament from the cathode (as they are shared in the tube and need to be isolated so that no modulation occurs between them). A properly designed DC filament stage using chokes to avoid hum, and a hefty/robustly built driver to push the low MU and high voltage requirements at the grid really make a 2A3 or 300B "come alive" which costs more and are not possible to build at under $2,000. My price for a properly executed 2A3 would start at $3K and go up from based on the caliber of internal components are used. Not to deter, but if looking towards a 2A3 amplifier- don’t skimp! If budget is more modest- I would recommend my Transcend KT88/120 amp. Anyone interested- please feel free to reach out to me with any questions at aricaudio@gmail.com or through the Contact Us on my site at: www.aricaudio.com. Best wishes and Happy Holidays to all! Aric
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
@teajay I could not agree more with respect to your comments regarding the virtues of the 6SN7, though I have not had the opportunity to evaluate that Tung-Sol oval plate to which you refer.  There are some great NOS 6SN7's that are still affordable. I have never really been satisfied with the musicality of a system that did not have the 6SN7 somewhere in the chain.  

I might take a look at the MicroZOTL amp.  This idea really fascinates me.   I will be looking for your review.
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