6C33-B vs everything else.

The 6C33C-B performed flawlessly in my A318B over the 4 months or so. Bias was rock steady without any hiccups. I had 3 Sets of tues and none gave me any problems.

The early prototype A318A was another story altogether, though.

Darkmoebius,
Wow! Spoken like a true audiophile. Except now you have me thinking about the 300B tube agian. I never did get around to listening to them. Do you think it would be worth my while to demo a integrated 300B amp? I would probally start out with something less expensive. If i liked it I could always upgrade at a later date.

Jeff. Per your thought that the 6c33c is quite destructive when they failed in your VK60s, and therefore you would not consider another amp that uses this power tube. Certainly any type of problem is a pain in the rear and I am sorry you had a bad problem.

It seems to me it is how the circuit in your amp dealt with the tube failure that caused the destruction you experienced. I am not aware that the 6c33c exhibits any unusual characteristics such that failures with that tube would result in problems that would not occur if a different output tube had a similar failure when used in the same circuit.

Darkmoebius,

Almarro is said to release details for a non-NFB version of the A318B. It's supposed to be warmer sounding with denser imaging w/o losing the dynamics. Maybe, you should contact your dealer about the retrofit

Hi KT_88,

You've never stated whether you are interested in a SET or PP amp and the type of speakers you have. Unfortunately, there is such a big difference in power output between the 300B & 6C33C-B (both SET & PP) that under 94dB and a fairly steady impedence your speakers will be a larger determining factor in the resulting sound than the amp. By that, I mean bass performance primarily.

300B's and 90dB speakers was good for most jazz trio, acoustic, chamber, and quartet types of music. Even most low key rock at moderate levels. But, if you still have the Quicksilver V4's and Meadowlarks, I think you'll find stepping down to 300B SET, or even PP, might be underwhelming. 120 wpc driving 89dB speakers gives pretty good control.

celebrer_le_temps,

I actually sold the Almarro a month or so ago along with the Reynaud monitors so I could focus on just one system. To clarify my comments a little more, I don't think the A318B needs anything, it is excellent as it is. It just happened to be a little less than perfect with a very unique speaker - the I-Bens. That's just the way it is with single drivers, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. 95% of other efficient enough speakers are going to sound awesome.