Best 300b single-ended Tube amp. for the $

I think you are making very good choises, I heard the Zu sounding very good, maybe at it's best, and thought it a great speaker at any price. I also agree that cable distinctions become much more pronounced as eff increases.

Thank you

My room:
-23 x 20'
-Speakers centered on 23'side(in front of wall of glass doors)
-Wood floors
-9'ceilling
-Sunken room with one 20' side completely open to th rest of the house
-listening distance 12-13' away

DAC: Meitner Bidat 3.5v output

-My idea would be test the Druids, if a go get the Px-25, and assume the Druids pass despite border-line bass - add their sub down the road.

1- Has anyone heard the Druids with the PX-25?
2-I would be auditioning the Druids with my Jadis 60w - could that prove misleading as to the eventual sound of the PX-25 combo?
3-I have a long 15' speaker cable run - is that a problem with 6w? They are efficient cables
4-At $5000.00 for the Druid sub combo - does that new budget open up some CLEARLY better sp. options

Nice digital front end, Saffy. I have the Museatex/Meitner Bitstream dac(3V/300ohm output) which had full signal & power supply upgrades by John Wright of Museatex in Nov 2005. Definitely works extremely well with the PX-25 and high-eff speakers. Also, plenty of drive for a passive preamp, I use an S&B TVC.

Saffy,This is from some old fart that's heard a lot of stuff! Find a great dynamic speaker that has a benign impedance(4 0hm,6ohm,or8ohm). Doesn't matter which impedance as long as it don't dance up and down. It needs to be at least 90 db at one watt. If you have a great preamp(active tube) then get a pair of Melody M2A3 Monoblocks. If you don't have a great pre. then I'd suggest the I2A3 amp(integrated version). They're 18 watts per channel and are nice. With the speakers i've suggested, you can still try a 300B SET (you'll just have to stay under 93DB). You can still have a nice solid state amp for when you want to party and just jam out! But, there is no amp that will do it all! I've found that the 2A3 push/pull gives me all the midrange magic of a 300B SET plus great bass and extended highs. Build your system to be able to convert to any style you wish and are in the mood for! The best and easy way to do this is make everything else work around the choosen amp for the moment or mood!