Considering A 20-40 Watt Stereo SET Amp

I have owned two terrific push pull tube amplifiers, 100 watt KT 88/6550 and 40 watt el34. I have 300b SET mono blocks 8 watts. All three work very well with my 94 db sensitivity/14 ohms speakers. The SET is the most nuanced, open, transparent and in addition the most emotionally involving, 3-dimensional and tactile of the three amplifiers. Simply more real and believable presentation. That’s my listening experience. For other listeners if can certainly be different.

@charles1dad 

I don't doubt your experience.

Those larger amps you mentioned use feedback. A long time ago I read a passage by Norman Crowhurst (an early tube guru), discussing what happens when feedback is applied in an amplifier. He described the spot that occurs as the 'feedback node'; the cathode of the input tube. The thing is, that tube, no matter how good, isn't linear. So when the feedback is mixed with the incoming signal, its a distorted by the tube, so causes additional distortion as a result. Crowhurst described that as 'higher ordered harmonics, inharmonic distortions and intermodulations'. All of these are unpleasant to the ear and readily audible (usually has harshness and brightness at some level).  Those things did not go away simply because the amplifier is a bit newer...

A simple remedy is to not mix the feedback inside a tube. It can be done using a resistor divider network entirely outside the amplifier. It helps a lot if the amplifier is also reasonably linear without feedback! This practice is exceedingly rare in high end audio.

Most pentode and tetrode power amps I've seen really need that feedback to work. But if the amp was already musical without it?? That's pretty rare... I'm not contesting your experience. What I'm saying is to find out how this works, a wider net has to be cast.

I started studying SETs in the early 1990s (with early editions of Sound Practices magazine as the influence). I've heard some SETs that seemed quite nice, but so far none surpassed some (but certainly not all) of the PP amps I've played. 

IIRC, your SET uses a 300b. You might find it interesting to hear a class A PP zero feedback amp using the 300b. In that way variables are eliminated, all of which affect the distortion and therefore the 'sound'.

@atmasphere 

IIRC, your SET uses a 300b. You might find it interesting to hear a class A PP zero feedback amp using the 300b. In that way variables are eliminated, all of which affect the distortion and therefore the 'sound'.

Yes my SET does. I believe that Canary Audio makes both zero NFB SET and push-pull 300b amplifiers. I don’t know if anyone has done a direct comparison between these two versions.

 Charles 

I own a parallel SET and two pushpull amps.  My favorite is a flea-powered pushpull that runs the 349 output tube.  The best tube amp I've heard is a custom-built output transformerless amp followed by a pushpull amp running the extremely rare 252 tube.  In other words, I don't have favorites that are consistently one topology.  

I think the OP should broaden his search to all types of tube amps, not just SET amps, particularly because higher powered SET amps are quite pricey and none have sounded as good to me as the low-powered SET amps, which might work if high volume levels are not a priority, but, are probably not ideal given that the speakers are not near the 100 db/w efficiency level that is more suited to low-powered SET amps.

While my suggestion isn't exactly what you are looking for it may be worth looking into an el84 based amp. They're not SE but they are triode. My fisher has much of what you want. Maybe try the quicksilver integrated. It is more modern than my 60+ year old gear.

I like the el84 tube and it is often used in pretty nice sounding low-cost amps.  It is an indirectly heated pentode tube, but, the tube type does not determine anything particular about its sound.