SET amp recommendation

Hi Charles,

An additional reason stems from the fact that if speaker impedance is higher, amplifier output impedance becomes a smaller fraction of speaker impedance. That will decrease the magnitude of frequency response variations that will result from interaction of amplifier output impedance with variations of speaker impedance that occur as a function of frequency.

Also, the very low damping factor of these kinds of amplifiers will increase in proportion to speaker impedance.

Finally, higher load impedance means that less current (although more voltage) is required to deliver a given amount of power.

All of those are reasons why, as you said, "tube amps like a higher ohm load that`s relatively flat."

Best regards,
-- Al

Al, you are the man when it comes to clear technical explanations.I don`t have an engineering background but my ears sure told something very good is happening with the higher ohm speaker loads and tube amplifiers(particularly
SET amps).
Best Regards,

12-12-11: Erfranke
I guess what I am looking for is SET configuration that is not overly colored or muddy. The Carys were nice, but just say I am glad I didnt pay full price for them.

I had a similar Cary experience with the Cary SEI 300B. Lush, intimate, involving, but too much of each for my taste.

As Zmanastronomy suggested above, the Almarro A318-B is a terrific choice. You get almost every last bit of the SET "magic" without the coloration. And it is 18wpc. That extra ~3dB in output makes a difference sometimes.

The assumption that 300b SET are all lush and colored is as inaccurate as stating all solid state or all push-pull tube amps sound the same.
There`s such a wide assortment of character among the many 300b amps available, slow.fat and syrupy to fast,tight and lean.
What circuit/Parts quality?Level of transformer and power supply?Cary,Wavelength,Yamamoto,Coincident,Tron or Art audio, they`re all different.
Which 300b tube? Generic chinese,JJ,Sophia,EML or W.E.?
What driver tube? Capacitor,interstage transformer,choke or direct coupled signal path?
Far too many choices in amp design/implementation to stereotype the resulting sound quality.

I am hearing some good comments regarding Asian made/assembled 300b/318 SET amps. Have not considered them before; believed they were built with profit in mind, substandard components and transformers. Should i be thinking different if it is going to be a throw-down amp anyway playing second fiddle to my OTLs? Or, wait for a good used domestic?

Mixing apples and oranges, I am curious about the sound profiles of other non-SET amp configurations, such as McIntosh, PrimaLuna, Integrated amps using EL34,EL84, 6550s, the list is endless. Has anyone had a good experience with any of these they want to share?