Tube Amp for Devore O/96

@fsonicsmith

 I tried my O/93's with a very good SET no feedback amp, an Ampsandsound Nautilus with 8 watts and the sound is sweet but the firmness of the low end and the extension of the treble disappeared.

I can understand that outcome depending on the particular SET amplifier. Looking at Dave's pictures it's clear that his amplifier has very robust power supply and he mentioned custom quality output transformers. So for him, no problems controlling the bass .

Charles

The first build, we spec’d great transformers and Mundorf caps. I had the chance to compare 5 builds including some that were closer to the original Western Electric design, and a few with larger transformers that weren’t as boutique, but where the 300b was putting out over 10w. The Western Electric amp design was awesome but lacked low end, so we used the nickel transformers.

I think the transformers made a big difference for the bass but initially the bass felt like it was soft. We swapped in larger Mundorf caps and wham! It was like adding half an octave of bass, and brought the performance within spitting distance of the EL34 amp. The caps added $600 to the build, but well worth it. Total cost was about $4k including the Gold Lion tubes.

I will say the O/96 reveals every change, especially cables. It gets better the more you feed it high quality stuff. 

@davehg 

I think the transformers made a big difference for the bass but initially the bass felt like it was soft. We swapped in larger Mundorf caps and wham! It was like adding half an octave of bass, and brought the performance within spitting distance of the EL34 amp. The caps added $600 to the build, but well worth it. Total cost was about $4k including the Gold Lion tubes.

I'm 100% in agreement concerning the vital importance of output transformer quality and better quality capacitors. I'm surprised that a SET of your amplifier's build was only 4K, seems quite the bargain from what I see. This is an amplifier that you'll have and enjoy for years I bet.

I've owned my 300b SET mono blocks for more than13 years and quite frankly my appreciation and admiration of them continues to grow.

Charles

I've heard the 0/96 driven by a Shindo Montrachet, that's a UL amp using EL34 tubes to put out 30 watts, to good effect in a medium sized room. I've not heard any of the other amps the OP is considering but love the idea of a pushpull triode amp a pp 2a3 amp in particular.

Something to consider is that John DeVore personally uses an Icon Audio amp in his setup. If the designer of the speakers uses them probably worth considering - 

Also I watched a Steve Huff video last night you would probably enjoy, the valve amp looks like the kind of thing that would be ideal