Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

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,

Rebbi, congratulations! You ran the definitive experiment. Once you get things sorted out, I do hope you are able to make things work with the deCapos. Back at the beginning of this adventure, I evaluated the deCapos driven by my Coincident Frankenstein 300b amps. I found one could go pretty loud without issues. As Charles indicates, my dynamo also does pretty well. At this point, the dynamo driven deCapos are getting as much playing time as my main system. I've got a nice tube complement in the dynamo now. I continue to subscribe to the original premise regarding the deCapos and SETs. "You haven't heard the deCapos until---"