SETs/Analog owners

Hi, just wanted to create a thread where people on this forum who use SETs and analog owners could list their amps and speakers?I just returned from a visit to Jeanir Hiraga and his friends in France last week, and my hunger to get a good Altec has gone up again. Ideally I love the 817 type dual FLHs (dual woofer front loaded horns), but am aware my next house purchase (or flat in London, rather) might not house that big a cabinet, given space in London is always hard. Therefore, am still on the lookout for A5s or smaller speakers like TAD 2404, but I haven't heard these done well yet. I heard Mr. Hiraga's A5, and it sounded great, but was only connected to his digital playback. I am interested in auditioning using analog only, as I have a nice collection of good LP recordings.I am quite willing to travel to listen. I do prefer SETs, though a dual woofer FLH at Hiraga's friend's place sounded brilliant on the Kaneda replica amp. As this forum is a big community, a list of those who evaluate their systems with analog and SETs could be helpful in narrowing down those whose evaluation might be more similar than different.

What is a SET ?

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Originally Posted by Riley Casey

What is a SET ?

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Single-Ended Triode amp - A very clean low power amp for highly efficient speakers.

Wikipedia sez:
A single-ended triode (SET) is a vacuum tube electronic amplifier that uses a single triode to produce an output, in contrast to a push-pull amplifier which uses a pair of devices with antiphase inputs to generate an output with the wanted signals added and the distortion components subtracted.

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Originally Posted by Riley Casey

What is a SET ?

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Originally Posted by hjames

Single-Ended Triode amp - A very clean low power amp for highly efficient speakers.

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Very clean sorta... none of the crossover distortion of a class AB amp but typically much higher 2nd harmonic distortion than a typical SS class A or AB.

Most systems require more than the 1 to 10 or so watts you can get out of a SET before you run them into distortion. Arguably it is this distortion that people associate with their sound and appeal.

Even though they do have very measurable short comings they are undeniably cool and can sound great in the right system.


Widget

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Originally Posted by Mr. Widget

...Even though they do have very measurable short comings they are undeniably cool and can sound great in the right system.

Widget

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And that's the difficulty using them. Their inherently high output impedance and inability to deliver current means they want to see absolutely benign speaker impedance, not just high efficiency. Using the Altecs with SET should be fine. Most of the newer JBL systems aren't going to play well with SET amplifiers unless actively implemented.

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Originally Posted by rusty jefferson

And that's the difficulty using them. Their inherently high output impedance and inability to deliver current means they want to see absolutely benign speaker impedance, not just high efficiency. Using the Altecs with SET should be fine. Most of the newer JBL systems aren't going to play well with SET amplifiers unless actively implemented.

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Yes I am not looking at JBLs, though the JBL 2220a woofers work great with the TAD 4003 and 300b amp in a friend's system. However his system is too big, and therefore I am more looking for something in the size of an A5, TAD 2404, etc, but in DIY people could have many good ideas, one doesn't know it till one hears it. However, in order to check how it sounds, I do need to use analog, and prefer SETs. Low watt push pulls like EL84s, or push pulls from 300bs and 2a3s etc, would work too.