[yashicaman]

I'm a SET guy in a solid state world. My SET amp is temporariliy out of my audio loop.
At work my stereo kit is powered by McIntosh. At home, it's powered Quad
12L speakers that provide the juice.
Someday I'll return to SET...someday...

 

[Telynau]

I love SET's too, but they are only one flavor of sound, notwithstanding those who claim them to be the one true faith. With the right recording and associated equipment they can create magic. But I am also happy (overall happier) with the digital room correction provided by my Copland DRC-205. And with my McIntosh 275 and 2102, which most definitely do not sound like SET's. But I think the true hobbyist (i.e., fanatic, audio nutcase) needs to own at least one SET rig and playback equipment to match. Regards, James

 

[recstar24]

Considering my last 4 amps and current amp have all been a SET, I would imagine I would vote Pro-SET on the ballot.

 

[santacore]

Love SET, and tube amps in general. Every time I try to listen to solid state I feel like something is lacking.

The other benefit of tube amps is that you can change the overall sound of the amp, just by swapping tubes. It keeps things interesting and allows you to maximize your system.

 

[Lazarus Short]

My Stax SRA-3S energizer is single-ended, and may be triode - maybe somebody can clue me in there. Sounds wonderful. The other one is a Magnavox console pullout I acquired at an AK meet last spring (EL84). It sounds wonderful, but the turn-off pops bother me. It may become an amp for my moving-coil headphones.

 

[Spareribs]

I'm set for life with my set set up. A great set is a wonderful set thing to have and it's very settling to know that I'm a set guy. How satisfying to have a set!

 

[Tea]

Love tube's SET especially combo with a full range speaker.

 

[papomaster]

I just bought some rear-loaded horns yesterday in exchange of my previously owned Monitor Audio RS5s, and these things can sing! No deep bass, but wicked dynamics, great detail and tone, wiiiiiiide soundstage (although not deep), and by standing at corners, they leave some space in the room.

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm set for life with my set set up. A great set is a wonderful set thing to have and it's very settling to know that I'm a set guy. How satisfying to have a set!

 

[Larry I]

Of course suitably efficient speakers are a must. Given the right speakers, what is there not to love about a good SET amp -- expansive soundstage, natural sounding attack and decay of notes, sound that seems to bloom and expand into a real space (just like a concert hall).

I suppose I am not entirely a SET purist because my amp (Audionote Kageki) is really a parallel SET (two output tubes in parallel per channel). It utilizes 2a3s and puts out nearly 8 watts per channel.

I also don't think that great sound is exclusive to any particular design. One of the very best amps I've heard is an old Western Electric pushpull amp (current price it trades at is around $70k per channel), and another was a custom-built OTL (a really scary amp, given that it has no blocking capacitor on the output and no servo circuit to block DC).