Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Hey, Folks,
Well, I checked a few of the possible culprits that Brian suggested (for example, did I have the correct model output transformers?) and things looked okay. So I decided, with Brian's encouragement, to bring the amp to a local tech for troubleshooting.
Mike, my go-to guy in the past at Austin Stereo Service, didn't want to work on the kit, or on kits in general these days (although he once checked over my Bottlehead Seduction photo stage). He's busy right now with lots of '70's and '80's transistor gear, turntables and so forth.
He suggested I go to Telstar Services. I called them and they said that as long as they had schematics and build instructions they'd be happy to troubleshoot the amp. So I dropped it off. Typical deal: you pay a bench test/diagnostic fee which they apply to the repair if you have them do it.
I have to admit to feeling like a bit of a loser taking the amp to a tech after all the work I've put into it. But at this point the prospect of sorting through all the possible problems is just too daunting, plus I figure they've got the scopes and proper testing equipment to make shorter work of it. I printed out the schematics and wiring diagrams.
So, there you go.
I miss my music! It's silly but I'm really bummed out by not having a working system, which is probably an indicator of just how musically engaging things have been with this amp. I've come to think of it as a "beauty machine."
Also, as someone said earlier in the thread, when you build a kit like this, you really get attached to it. More than a purchase or possession it's kind of "your baby."
Anyway, I think I'm in for some real magic when the amp's completely up to spec. Hope they sort this out quickly!
By the way, Brian encouraged me to give the techs his phone numbers in case they had questions. Great guy!

I'm wondering if it could be something as simple as a tube issue. At this point probably best to have someone with the right equipment check it out.

If the tech can determine or if an can specify I would wonder again about the output impedance of the amp and if to spec. Distortion levels into the same load speaker could be higher if output impedance is higher. Of course could be anything. Will stay tuned. 👀

Map,
Brian was going to ship me some replacement tubes in case it was a tube issue but UPS returned it to him for some reason. It'll be interesting to see if the tech finds a bad tube.

Rebbi,
Did you like the sound of the Tekton Katz?
It appears that Morricab(Audio Asylum) was correct regarding the beauty of De Capo with a SET amplifier. I'm very curious to see what the tech finds wrong with your amplifier. Could be something quite simple. This has been a very good thread. Very interesting and with mature behavior displayed. I appreciate the absence of trolls, drama queens and pissing contests (what a relief).
Charles,

Charles,
As for the lack of drama in the thread, yes, I appreciate that as well. "Real life" provides enough of that already! Here we ought to enjoy ourselves, learn new things from each other and help each other out. (Come to think of it, we should be doing more of that in real life, too.)
As for the Katz Meow's, I got a kick out of hearing them. And it was very generous of sebrof to drag them up a flight of stairs with me to put them into his main rig. (He has a great listening space, by the way.)
First of all, I really liked the look. They are a lot more diminutive than I'd expected; kind of "cute," really! And those shiny, white, Fostex 8-inch'ers look very sharp against the matte black cabinet.
I'm also very intrigued to see how Eric's design philosophy has evolved. You see a theme there: the wide range driver supplemented by the super tweeter. But he put the tweeter in a separate housing up top, stepped back for time alignment. I have to imagine this was more expensive and involved to produce than his current, rectangular cabinets but I'm wondering why he dropped time alignment as I believe (from my experience with the De Capo's and that fact that Israel Blume employs it in the Coincident TE II's) that it has real benefits.
So I think sebrof has the 2.0 version. I've looked at Internet photos of version 3.0 and it featured a series of slotted ports down the front of the cabinet. Interesting. I don't remember where sebrof's are ported, perhaps he can chime in.
As for the sound, I was under some time pressure to get back to work so we plunked them down in front of all his other gear (which is amazing, by the way) so they weren't getting any boundary reinforcement. All that's to say that I was rushed and we couldn't place them carefully and ideally.
That said, I found what I heard to be very good; incisive and clear with great tone. But that's really as far as I could get. I'd like to spend more time with them or another Tekton design in an environment where we could tweak placement to the nth degree.
Let me also compliment sebrof on his Tube Audio Lab 2A3 kit. It sounds really sweet.