[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

And yes this cable was a gift to PCT but others like the color as well.

Hah... I knew it.
Now I know that colour has some significance I understand why it performs so well.
Like red draining faster, purple translates better.
Good to know.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I've always heard the 300B referred to as the holy grail for tube amps, and the tube itself seems to be spoken (or perhaps revered) of in almost mythical terms. 300B-based amps seem to be quite expensive so a lower-cost OTL amp option to try these near-mythical beasts would be most welcome.

Directly heated triodes like the 300B will probably always be expensive because there really is no cheap way to get the sound people expect out of them. They live and die by the quality of their output transformers first and foremost, and good ones are hand-made in low volumes and can cost 4 figures just on their own. The weird catch-22 of DHT amps it that they are pretty simple and elegant in terms of circuit design (and naturally require no negative feedback), but they are very sensitive to the quality and composition of most of the parts that are directly in the signal path. They also require special care and feeding in terms of power supply design to prevent unacceptable levels of hum.

This, combined with the nature of the tubes themselves (low volume and still largely hand-made, thus expensive even in new production form) means that there is really no opportunity out there to swoop in and undercut existing products with a good sounding 300B design that costs significantly less.

They do sound lovely when done right though. Not just the 300B, pretty much any directly heated triode is great. It's not everybody's cup of tea though, and I would encourage you to seek out an opportunity to hear one for yourself sometime. Also, keep in mind that 300B amps in particular can actually vary quite a bit in presentation because a lot of designs use driver stage tubes that don't drive the 300B properly. Not overcoming the 300B's miller capacitance is the primary culprit, which is often the case with designs that use a 6SN7 driver. This is why some 300Bs are overtly "romantic" sounding and the tube has that reputation. When driven by a capable driver stage the 300B is not nearly as "tubey" sounding as it's reputation would have you believe.

 

[Xcalibur255]

Why 300Bs?

Genuinely curious, because 6AS7s would be better OTL outputs, I believe.

Now, if we're talking about a transformer-coupled amp, that's something we have no expertise in...

Check out the 6BX7 for OTL goodness.

 

[Robert Padgett]

Hah... I knew it.
Now I know that colour has some significance I understand why it performs so well.
Like red draining faster, purple translates better.
Good to know.

And a certain, top-secret run of fabulous speaker cable, known only as "Project Yellow", clearly a DARPA-funded research effort. I have two pair running my speaker systems, and there is no more known to exist in this dimension...I may have already said too much...

 

[Whazzzup]

well my usb not only provides an rfi bubble shield around the entire system, i get skittles when ever i want em

 

[Ableza]

The only cure for audio Skittles are Brilliant Pebbles (tm)

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

The only cure for audio Skittles are Brilliant Pebbles (tm)

and let us not forget the Tice clock

JC

 

[Paladin79]

Directly heated triodes like the 300B will probably always be expensive because there really is no cheap way to get the sound people expect out of them. They live and die by the quality of their output transformers first and foremost, and good ones are hand-made in low volumes and can cost 4 figures just on their own. The weird catch-22 of DHT amps it that they are pretty simple and elegant in terms of circuit design (and naturally require no negative feedback), but they are very sensitive to the quality and composition of most of the parts that are directly in the signal path. They also require special care and feeding in terms of power supply design to prevent unacceptable levels of hum.

This, combined with the nature of the tubes themselves (low volume and still largely hand-made, thus expensive even in new production form) means that there is really no opportunity out there to swoop in and undercut existing products with a good sounding 300B design that costs significantly less.

They do sound lovely when done right though. Not just the 300B, pretty much any directly heated triode is great. It's not everybody's cup of tea though, and I would encourage you to seek out an opportunity to hear one for yourself sometime. Also, keep in mind that 300B amps in particular can actually vary quite a bit in presentation because a lot of designs use driver stage tubes that don't drive the 300B properly. Not overcoming the 300B's miller capacitance is the primary culprit, which is often the case with designs that use a 6SN7 driver. This is why some 300Bs are overtly "romantic" sounding and the tube has that reputation. When driven by a capable driver stage the 300B is not nearly as "tubey" sounding as it's reputation would have you believe.

Very well said, I may build one in the future but just the basic parts run about $1800 excluding the type of 300B's that can bring a late model used car price. (2 of them that is).

 

[hearditontheX]

Speaking of shootouts, has anyone seen anything, anywhere about the recent Raganarok 2, Vidar, Aegir comparison with Salk speakers? TIA.

 

[bcowen]

Why 300Bs?

Genuinely curious, because 6AS7s would be better OTL outputs, I believe.

Now, if we're talking about a transformer-coupled amp, that's something we have no expertise in...

Mostly because I'm a 300B addict. What, that's not enough justification?

Not the best tube for an OTL to be sure, and if you have no desire to delve into transformer-coupled designs then how about a Lyr 4 sporting a pair of 300B's? Not quite the SET heaven I was hoping for but getting closer.

 

[bcowen]

Very well said, I may build one in the future but just the basic parts run about $1800 excluding the type of 300B's that can bring a late model used car price. (2 of them that is).

No biggie if you already have some.

 

[ISOLordByron]

Speaking of shootouts, has anyone seen anything, anywhere about the recent Raganarok 2, Vidar, Aegir comparison with Salk speakers? TIA.

I haven’t, but I have run a Ragnarok 1 with Veracity ST’s and all I can say is damn, I was impressed. Schiit gear and Raal ribbons have some sort of magical synergy... Despite being a much noisier and lower bias setup for headphones, the Ragnarok 2 really does a lot better with speakers so I imagine that’s an extremely nice pairing.

 

[438555]

It’s a stated 0.2 ohm load. Plus there’s some open baffle compensation going on, so yeah...challenging. It’s sold with a resistor/inductor interface box that’s intended to connect to a speaker amplifier.

So why are RAAL’s ribbon headphones a 0.2 Ohm load while Magnepan ribbon speakers are ~ 4 Ohm? Is Magnepan adding in resistors just for fun? Or is it just the larger overall size making more impedance?

 

[ISOLordByron]

So why are RAAL’s ribbon headphones a 0.2 Ohm load while Magnepan ribbon speakers are ~ 4 Ohm? Is Magnepan adding in resistors just for fun? Or is it just the larger overall size making more impedance?

Both, usually. The resistors help to load the ribbon for damping with the amplifier.

 

[Paladin79]

No biggie if you already have some.

Very true, especially if you bought them many years ago and are sitting back watching the prices go up and up lol.