CHANGING FROM AUDIO RESEARCH TO AUDIO NOTE SYSTEM 

BTW the relatively common and available 805 is a DHT output tube capable of 50 watts pure class A SET.

Charles 

Hi sns my monoes are the Siltech SEPA. (2004)There were only produced 15 pairs and we sololy sold to distributors over the world.

A really cost No objekt from the former Phillips ingenier Edwin van der Kley Rynveld. Who acqured  Siltech in start of the 90’.

The used tube is a special invented nuvistor type that in this configuration is making 80 W/ 8 Ohm.

The only drawbach for me is that is actually is not a ballanced design as the rest of my system. 
Several years ago i took all gear away from the middle of the speaker and placed it on the sidewall, and am going with 10mtr IC cabels, hence the need of the ballanced cabels. At High volumen simple a must.

I must admit that i love huge speakers, “there is No substitute for cubic.” also fitts well for speakers.

Kind of relevant, but perhaps not?

So much praise is given to SET amplification and the magic flea watt amps produce with high efficiency speakers.

As financial resources are limited for me, and as I wanted to get a general sense of what a SET sound  signature was like, I bought a Heathkit SA-3 integrated amp off Kijiji. My plan was to replace all the resistors and capacitors and see what it sounded like. Well, that was an exercise in frustration. Something went wrong and I could not for the life of me find the source of the offending sound. So, I changed tactics…  Stripped it down completely, replaced all the resistors (again), capacitors (with audiophile grade caps), tube sockets and all the wires. Also built a new enclosure. As I write this, I realize all I bought was three transformers and some vintage tubes…

Finally finished it up last week. Worked my way up through my “collection” of speakers starting with the super inexpensive DIY experiments. Tuning the circuit and making adjustments along the way. As the speakers got better, the amp was improving and was matching better with the speakers. It’s about a 2 watt amp and did a surprisingly good job driving my ESL-57’s. Last night I replaced the ESL’s with the Cornwalls. (The SA-3 is an EL84 based amp - went that route because of the Decware SE84UFO…)

Everything I’ve read about SET tube amplification was confirmed when I hooked up the Cornwalls. I can see how people either connect with it or not. I happen to like it!

All that to say, I understand your desire to go the route you are going. I’ve certainly been bitten by the SET bug. For now…

My concern is how am I going to feel about this sound signature being the only one I have access to? (Should I get a “proper” SET amp and let go of my other gear to fund it) Only time will tell. So, my oh so very inexpensive little SET amp will have to do some ongoing music duties before I make that change. 

As far as the AN speakers, when I was at an audio show recently, it was the AN room with the AN-K speakers that “felt” right

I look forward to hearing how your journey ends.

From the peanut gallery: very informed and entertaining thread!