SET the best?

I went the other way - from a Cary CAD-805AE SET to the CAD-211AE push-pull amps. The reason for the switch was because the SET was underpowered for my new speakers. With the old speakers (ProAc D38's) the SET sounded magnificent with certain types of music - vocals, lieder, violin solos, string quartets. But the SET's could sound muddled when given something a bit more full range, like heavy orchestral. The symptoms were poor seperation of any instrument from the midbass down.

The CAD-211AE is an improvement in almost every aspect, mostly with dynamics, midrange weight, and almost unstoppable drive. But the top end is nowhere near as good as the SET. I was bi-amping for a while (see my sig) before I was forced to return the SET to pay the bills! If I could afford it, I would buy another pair of CAD-805's and bi-amp again.

My experience with SET was after several years of experimentation with SS and PP amps matched with a number of speakers. Most recently a few more systems have made their way through, and while some were quite good, I am always in a hurry to get my 300B SET/Altec 604 back on for the ease and sense of 'life' it conveys.

I have been very happy with my present main system for the last three years. The lower freq are augmented by two powered subs that have been set on a seperate volume and balance control to allow ease of integration with the mains. Further the two subs have varying crossover points to fill in any gaps. Not complicated in practice, but it took me a while to get it to this level.

Along with the well considered responses above. I'd like to add that the realism from this current system is quite stunning at times. Tho I'll be the first to admit the speakers could have better resolution, amongst other things... The whole effect as a whole is wonderful.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes...

Cheers,

RW

HanaleiMike, take a visit over to the JE Labs website. Question...do you listen to acoustic instruments or a lot of electronic instruments? For the latter, some other kind of amp/speaker combo might be better.

My 300B amp measures flat well below 30hz. 30hz is the lowest range of piano. They also measure beyond the upper limits of my hearing capability. I need to measure my 45 amp (have much smaller, cheaper transformers) and haven't done so yet. I cannot listen to the 45 amp wide open but can listen at a decent level...too much distortion and I'm guessing it is what Atmasphere describes. In another forum JohnK told me minimum 300B for my speakers and he was right...for optimum performance. Thanks JohnK.

Speakers are 100db at one meter. I think I have roughly somewhere between two to four watts to play with before the distortion really starts to kick in and become relevant. Four watts is 106db. I would be inclined to agree with Atmasphere on how much power is required for these sorts of amps. This for live music type levels not quiet listening.

However, this should be more about enjoying the music/sound (overall frequency response throughout the music spectrum) based on how you listen and not getting caught up with the manufacturers' spec chasing of lower and upper bandwidth statistics.

Perhaps a bigger reason SETs are popular is price/performance ratio. Nothing comes close imho.

http://members.myactv.net/~je205d/obsize-vs-freq.jpg

At the risk of appearing petty; I believe the lowest range of the piano is 27.5 Hz.

thanks Unsound...not petty at all

I knew it was close...my 300 B SET measures flat below 27.5Hz at 4 or 5 watts (can't remember exactly)...amazing, eh?