Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Thanks Charles, for some good perspective. I know and have stated that tastes vary, results vary, the same exact equipment, different room, different result. Some audiophiles need to buy expensive well-known labels even though there is better out there that is less expensive.

Some folks cannot separate hyperbole and fluff from a lot of audio writers and ad bucks, then when something darn good comes along with low or no ad bucks, suddenly these same folks come from Missouri, "the show me state". I suspect the low-cost of Israel's Dynamo and Eric's Tekton scare many people away because of lower cost. These type of folks need a prestige label with well-known bragging rights, likely vastly overrated, cost three times or more than what it should.

Hey guys, Sebrof here. Just thought I'd chime in since Rebbi mentioned the latest in this thread to me when he was here today. I currently own Tekton Katz Meow speakers. I owned Zu Omen and Tekton Lore in the past.

The main reason I invited Rebbi over was to see if it was an amp problem or amp/speaker mismatch. I offered to hook his Kit 1 to my big DIY speakers (system page) a couple of weeks ago, but he could make it literally 1 day too late for that because my buddy came over last night and we reconfigured everything and bi-amped the Altecs and Heils. He came over a few hours ago and hooked his kit 1 to my 96 db Tekton Katz Meows - I won't steal his thunder, but let's just say I suspect speaker shopping may be put on his back burner for the time being. We had my 2A3 amp to compare to the Kit 1.

btw: Rebbi's a great guy in person just as he comes across in these threads. It was fun to have him over.

Good idea to compare the amps assuming one is older and proven and one is just a newborn baby!

Wow, it's going to a cliffhanger of suspense!

Sebrof, thanks for chiming in. Do you still enjoy the Katz? Were you trying to sell them a while back? Enjoyed the threads you participated in, but haven't seen many posts from you lately. Good luck with all your endeavors. I'm guessing Rebbi goes in a different diection entirely.

Hello, Friends and Neighbors,
First of all, Sebrof, thanks a lot for the ringing character endorsement! You, too, are a great guy. And it was fun to play a little hooky from work.
So, yes, Sebrof and I got together earlier today. I played the troublesome tracks on his Tekton Katz Meow's through my amp and the amp clipped prominently. Sebrof himself noticed it within a few notes – it was not at all subtle. The other thing I noticed, in retrospect, was that the Kit 1 did not play as loudly on his much more sensitive speakers as I thought it would. (This later led me to wonder whether the amp is even putting out its rated wattage at all.)
We then hooked his 2A3 amplifier at about 3 W per channel back into the system and the same tracks played with no trouble at all on the Katz Meow.
So, we have now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is something wrong with my amp. Either I mis-wired something or I have a part that is bad or out of spec.
I would say this is good news and bad news.
The good news is that I didn't rush out and buy a new set of speakers for the wrong reason. Imagine my having sold my De Capo's, bought a set of Tekton's, and then finding out that I still had the same problem!
Brian and I have already been in touch back and forth via email. He has given me several things to check. If all of those seem okay, then I am going to take the amp to a local shop that said they would be glad to work on it if they had full schematics and a wiring manual. Brian has sent me those already in case we can't figure this out over the weekend.
So, again, thanks to Sebrof for his time and generosity and thanks to all of you for your interest. I do have to say that if the amp sounds this great with cheap tubes and a build problem, imagine how great it will sound when it's actually working properly! ;-)
I will keep you posted.