Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Starting to share my listening impressions of the Kit 1 on the blog. Have a look and enjoy.

I have been reading the responses to your amp and speaker combo on another thread Rebbi. First off, great job on the build as I know how much work it is! Well done.

I am still building and modifying my preamp and amps today. Just added a battery powered filament supply for my preamp and it was a great deal of fun.

My opinion will differ from others you have seen, but that is a good thing as you want all perspectives. I think the speaker is the most important component and you should build your system around it starting with the amp first. The amp/speaker synergy is the first one to consider. If you love your speakers, and they give you the sound you like, then build around them. Your freshly built amp is not the ideal match. It may be on vocals and jazz, but when your musical appetite changes and you want some dynamically challenging classical music or whatever, the SET amp simply cannot deliver with your speakers. The type of music one plays is hugely important.....more so than the speaker's efficiency in many cases.

You must decide first if you love your speakers and build around them first. You don't build a system around an amp...or one should not do that IMHO. Speakers impact the sound more than any other component. I also believe the source component and preamp are MORE important than the amp assuming the amp's quality meets a minimum hurdle of synergy and sound quality.

I have owned, built, and modified more tube amps than I can share here. Yes, 2a3 SET, 45 SET, 300B SET, OLT's, push/pull, monster SS, Class D...Ok, you get the picture.

You can achieve the same kind of immediacy, resolve, tone etc...that you are now enjoying with another amp that is not SET. You can. Your Audionote contact has told you the same about an EL34 KIT amp and he is absolutley right. Your speakers will come alive even more than they do with your 8 watt amp. It is indeed possible. It must be the right amp, right design, right parts and it can happen.

I am getting a SET like sound on my 90db 8 ohm speakers with push/pull homemade amps and even SS amps that are very special. The key here the system's sound. Everything ahead of the speaker helps deliver a "SET" type of sound. Everything. The right preamp, amp, and source all work together to deliver the final sonic signature. Don't become too amp focused or you will miss the woods for the trees.

This hobby is all about slight trade offs. You will gain many nice things keeping your current speakers and going to a more powerful amp. Gaining many things the SET amp will never do in your system. You will be able to match most, but perhaps not all, of the intimacy and directness of your SET amp. The end result will still be very pleasing and a substantial upgrade.

I have been able to achieve all the intimacy and directness of a SET in my system without having to "settle" for 8 watts. It is possible. I know the SET sound as I have owned plenty of great SET amps. I loved what they (SET) did on my already beautiful sounding jazz and vocal albums/CD's. Oh my. However, I had the same experience as you on more dynamically infused music. The SET amp just fell short. Understand, your sound is suffering well before you hear distortion or clipping. The lack of dynamic headroom is constricting the music's dynamics well before the clipping stage.

Bottom line is this. Do you love your speakers? Will they reveal what any upgraded component delivers? if so, keep them and change your amp.

Shopping for a new speaker can be a most fustrating experience as finding one that suits your tastes is hard, hard work. The speaker IS the main source of your systems sound personality and the amp while important, falls far behind.

I tend to agree with Grannyring in terms of relative importance of things.

The thing is, in a smaller room in particular there are many ways to skin the cat. So one can start with a low power amp and build around that more reliably in that there will be many choices for speakers. BUT, to get to the "end game" on teh grand scale of things,what you give up in terms of speaker power for other reasons has to be made up somewhere. The speakers needed to accomplish the ultimate sound as opposed to a compromised one in some cases at least will likely cost more. SO there is no free lunch, other than that it is always easier to produce good sound on a smaller scale than a larger one, ie in a smaller room than a larger one. I have seen some end up with SET amps and 100DB+ full range horns that are both big and expensive in order to achieve that ultimate sound, even in modest quarters.

So again, like usual, it all depends. No single right answer.

People often claim their particular amplifiers have near/same vitrues as a SET but with more power. If that's their experience I'll have to take their word for it. You can build a system around speakers or an amplifier. What's true is that either choice will require compromise and trade offs, no exception to this fact. I've heard no SS or large tube amp that sounds like a "well implemented" SET, obviously others have different opinions, that's life.

Lower power amps do require careful speaker selection. Well, lower efficiency speakers by the same token placed limitations on amplifier choices,yep, compromise. Rebbi you've heard what your 300b SET can do and prior amp couldn't. If you can find a non SET to give you what your current AN kit amp does, buy it! If Grannyring gets SET sound from his SS amps then congratulations. I've never heard this in my own experiences.

Certainly he may enjoy and prefer his present amps, I totally understand that with no problem. My point is Nothing will sound like a good SET other than a good SET. If that isn't what someone seeks, that's a different story.
Rebbi it's very possible you may love the AN el34 alternative(maybe even prefer it). My point,it won't mimic tour SET because it isn't a 300b SET which you have recently been introduce to. SET is not limited to any music genre "if" the proper speaker is matched with the amplifier. Yes the speaker is important, so is the amplifier to build a fine system.

Many good pathways available for good sound, we all decide which direction suits our goals the best.
Good Kuck,
Charles,

Grannyring,
I think you bring a really valuable perspective. Do you want the amp to sing or the speakers to sing? Or, ideally, both?
Brian Smith of Audio Note Kits says that their high-end EL34 is a fantastic piece of work that combines the delicacy and magic of SET with the guts and drive of push-pull. He's definitely encouraging me to try it.
Decisions, decisions!