Your journey with lower-watt tube amps -- Can a kit be good enough?


Looking for stories about your low-watt amp journeys.

Here's the situation: I have new speakers, 97 db. Trying them with lower watt tube amps (45/211, 300b, etc) seems generally wise. I am attempting to borrow some from audiophiles in the area. 

The horizon beyond trying these things involves actually buying some. I'm looking at a budget limit of about $5k.

Curious as to folks' experience with lower-watt amp kits vs. those of good makers (e.g. Dennis Had, etc.).

If you have any thoughts about the following, I'd be interested:

Did you start out with a kit and then get dissatisfied? Why?

Did you compare kits vs. pre-made and find big differences?

Did you find you could get the equivalent level of quality in a kit for much less than the same pre-made version? How about kit vs. used?

Also: did you find there was a difference between "point to point wiring" vs. "PCB" in these various permutations?

I realize that there are good kits and bad ones, good pre-made amps and bad ones. I'm hoping you'll be comparing units which seem at comparable levels of quality and price-points.

Thanks.

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I had DIY 300B amp that I tweaked and in the end rebuild it from scratch. For 300B is very important the driver tube (more powerful is better) and driver inter-stage transformer works much better compared to RC coupling. 

How many maximal dB do we need for classical, rock, jazz music?

It looks like the distortions from 50Watt heat on the speaker's voice coil and crossover parts should be much more horrible then 10% SET distortion on maximal power distortions. 

 

I think it’s important to realize everyone has different hearing ability and ways they enjoy their music. Do you sit in a chair that’s perfectly positioned and analyze each aspect of the music and wonder if it could be improved if you just…..Are you usually doing things and walking around so need bigger sound? 
‘I had a Rotel amp and pre, B&W speakers and Velodyne sub for 23 years. That was what I was used to. Listen to classic rock mostly and some jazz. When time came to replace my system, my buddy convinced me to try tubes. Started with a Synthesis amp, el34 and 45 watts or so and Zu Soul Supreme speakers. Was definitely a rock and roll set up and was plenty loud. Set up gave me ear fatigue to the point of headaches. Moved on to an Aric Audio 300b pset amp, 22 watts and Audio Note speakers. Best sound I’ve ever had by far. It’s wonderful. Some of the criticisms mentioned above can correct in some cases. For example, my Metallica does lack a bit of punch. The speakers go low but perhaps you don’t feel it as much. Remember this is coming from a guy who had a sub for 23 years. Is it a slight trade off? Perhaps. I feel the quality sound is worth it. Also, I don’t listen to the same music anymore. I’m much more into jazz, Father John Misty/Bon Iver/nora Jones type music now, which is what set amps excel at in my opinion. 
‘So I think you need to figure out what it is you want to listen to and choose wisely. I’d say as a general guide set is great for 90db and lower for most music, maybe not heavy base r&b. Push pull with more watts can pretty much get loud and rock but perhaps doesn’t have the characteristics that make a set amp so enjoyable. Solid state is solid state. Has its advantages but maybe not as natural sounding. 
‘Anyway, good luck and choose wisely. 

A similar thread happened here before. (And I’m sure will again). Atmosphere makes amps he is quite knowledgeable. But and it’s big but, he’s already gone through many iterations of hifi and made he’s conclusions. I don’t agree with them, for one very important reason, this is a hobby, it’s so much fun to explore, it’s not have people tell you you won’t like something when in fact, if your like me or many others, you actually will. I think this is how to quote the prior thread. Maybe just buy used amps and see how they sound and sell them on if not to your liking. prior thread - https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/300b-or-2a3-set-class-a-for-heretic-model-a