Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Smctigue,
I don't take your skepticism at all personally but I wanted to comment on your post.
I've drawn most of my observations based upon music that I've listened to over and over again. I had the Shrimp and Mahi's in my system (and was quite happy with them) for the better part of 4 years, if memory serves, and during that time, I became very accustomed to how they played my favorite music. I mean, if I had a dollar for every time I played "Chan Chan" from Buena Vista Social Club and "All I Wanna Do" from Sheryl Crow's Greatest Hits... well, I'd be able to afford the Coincident Triumph Extreme Mk II's.

:-P

So, when you plug a new amp into the system, and suddenly it's, "Wow, I've never heard that before," it's a pretty good indicator that something is very different and that new information has been revealed.

Just saying.

Rebbi,
LOL! You must have posted a few seconds after me, We made the same point. Your method is fine believe me.

Reb,

One thing worth noting is that often when a significant change is made we focus on what we hear that we did not before. how about what we heard before that we no longer hear? I suspect that once one hits a certain level of sound performance the differences may be largely what is emphasized now whereas other things were before.

Just something worth thinking about.

Regarding Coincident speakers, I will say that most of what I read about their design and specs comes from teh vendor, not an independant source doing measurements, etc. So that is another fact worth considering that in the end may or may not mean anything.

In the end, after considering all the facts, you just have to go with your gut on these things and make a call.

Its likely going to sound really good no matter what at this point.

Again, not to be defensive here, but I thought of one other example of what I want to convey.
In 1986, a year out of grad school, working full time, single and with some discretionary income burning a hole in my pocket, I went shopping for my first really good stereo. This was metro NYC, before the Internet, when there were still lots of brick and mortar stereo stores in NYC and the 'burbs.
I schlepped a copy of James Taylor's "That's Why I'm Here" LP to every audition at every store. In those days, I was fixated on a bass guitar glissando that comes in around 5 measures into the song. If it sounded like a stringed instrument and captured the whole bass guitar sound, I was impressed (which was how I ended up with a pair of the original Vandersteen 2C's).
So, I've been listening to that album for about 30 years.
Anyway, about 7 measures after the bass guitar glissando, an electric piano comes in. And the first time I heard it on the Kit 1, I grinned because the piano floated in front of the speakers and swirled around the room, which had never happened before. That's the kind of experience I'm talking about.

Mapman: What's missing? Hmmm.... good question. Low end is surprisingly powerful, especially given the rep of 300B amps, but perhaps the grip of the Manley's was a little firmer? Hard to say. That's why I'd be so curious to hear this amp on a pair of more efficient speakers that didn't make it work so hard. Other than that, not much. I mean, shoot, I was listening to something else this morning, something very familiar, that gave me the chills, that's how musically captivating it sounded.

Reb,

I didn't say it clearly but what what I meant is what is emphasized more or less in specific recordings. Specific things like you mention that you hear now and did not before, or vice versa.

The grip on the bass thing does not surprise me and is a valid thing to compare but its what effect does that and other technical differences actually have on specific recordings.

For example I have multiple amps speakers and systems. I know which one performs and sounds best in general to me, but I also know I hear different things in each case. Each system has its own unique biases that may be subtle or more. We realize what we hear currently that we like a lot faster than anything else that might be different. It usually takes time to get ones ears around everything, hence the common practice of making one change at a time and giving it some time to sink in.