SET the best?

845 not for you, heat, weight, and reliability factors in as well. Heat is enemy of reliability, these things run hot, hot, hot, they have no soft start circuit so wear out tubes more quickly. I wouldn't trust just anyone with nearly 1000v running through these things, not sure I'd trust these rather unknown Chinese 845. Line Magnetic is one of better ones, although I've seen propensity to burn out certain boutique power tubes, which tells me they run them hard.

This is issue I see today with SET in general, some of these guys run higher plate voltage then output tubes can handle, too many instances of premature tube failure. People too often blaming tube manufacturers. Prior to purchasing any SET, I'd research this aspect of that particular amp, know what your in for.

This is issue I see today with SET in general, some of these guys run higher plate voltage then output tubes can handle, too many instances of premature tube failure. People too often blaming tube manufacturers. Prior to purchasing any SET, I'd research this aspect of that particular amp, know what your in for.

Its probably also a good idea to get some idea of what the tube is rated for. For example a 300b in class A1 (A2 an even A3 are possible modes of operation as well) will be good for 7 Watts. A type 45 is 0.75 Watts. When you get stories of greater power, how are they doing that? Is it by using a variant (there's a graphite plate version of the 300b called the 6300b for example) or are they running plate current (class A2 or A3)?

How anyone can say they know what the tube sounds like when the design of the output transformer easily trumps the tube is beyond me. All you can really say is how that tube sounds with that output transformer.

these things run hot, hot, hot

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I was joking with my tech, why he does not get the Wavac 833 amp, he said something to the effect,,,*I don’t need a heater in my home...** especially with our New Orleans 100+ degree heat 6 months of the year. well looks like I’ll never own a 845. As I say I already have a power amp with the Defy’s 12 tube set up. And surprisingly does not put out much heat. The center trans has been running cool. But thats about to change with dual FR + woofer + tweeter, ohm load about to test Defy’s power. Also need to ck with tech to make sure that ohm load is ok with the 2A3 amp.