Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

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.

Rebbi,
This is good news really. It will be fabulous when the issue is resolved, likely you will not need to purchase new speakers. Then you might consider the benefits of a new power cord, something like the Black Treasure 300B. On sale now at Parts Connection or Grant Fidelity. Good luck. Shabbat Shalom.

Mikirob:
Back at you. :-D

Reb,

Honestly from your accounts of how severely teh sound was distorting I was wondering if all was well, especially with soft clipping in play and all, but had nothing concrete to base that on other than that the amp was newly built, still a baby and relatively untested.

I wish I would have said something earlier. Oh well. Glad you found a way to test things out further without having to try new speakers. It'll all work out with continued patience.

Cheers and Shabbat Shalom!

Rebbi.
I believe you'll get this sorted out. Obviously the 3 watt SET should not out drive your 8 watt SET. This is evidence of the Tekton's easy to drive reputation(3 watts!). In hindsight fingers point to your amplifier. I recall Brownsfan not having this issue with his De Capo driven by the 8 watt Dynamo amplifier. Overall jist think, all of this wonderful sound with a faulty amplifier.
Best Regards,