I am not surprised that a PP el84 amp would sound completely different.
Do you have any listening impressions or info about the bottlehead kaiju?
thanks
Do you have any listening impressions or info about the bottlehead kaiju?
thanks
I have never heard the Kaiju, or any Bottlehead amp for that matter.
Over the years I've heard Cary, Wavelength and Grant Fidelity SE 300B amps, along with a number of homebrew amps, and I've personally built SE 300B and 845 amps with Magnequest, One Electron and James output transformers, using a number of different driver topologies. I've also heard and built a number of PP amplifiers. Of course PP is different from SE, but both have their plusses and minuses, and both are capable of making beautiful music under the right circumstances.
Over the years I've heard Cary, Wavelength and Grant Fidelity SE 300B amps, along with a number of homebrew amps, and I've personally built SE 300B and 845 amps with Magnequest, One Electron and James output transformers, using a number of different driver topologies. I've also heard and built a number of PP amplifiers. Of course PP is different from SE, but both have their plusses and minuses, and both are capable of making beautiful music under the right circumstances.
Thanks, Grover. I thought I might amplify this a bit, hope that's OK with the moderators.
On top of the Kaiju chassis plate, there are only the plate chokes and power transformer. Under the chassis, and mounted with the same screws, are the output transformers, which are the same size. They weigh about 2.25 pounds (1kg) each. I designed the windings to approximate the Magnequest parts (EXO-003 and TFA-2004) we had used in an earlier 300B amp (ParaBee), and the MQ set pretty much weighed the same. Bass performance is pretty similar to the series-feed FS-030 which weighs about 2.5 times as much (11 pounds/5kg). Specifically, inductance is 40 henries and the OPT full-power bass bandwidth is about 22Hz. Parafeed really is more weight-efficient.
As it should be with 86db speakers sporting "sluggish " poly cone. I read opinions about success people had with Proac Response 1 and 2 with Set amps but having both of those speakers and some Set amps it wasn't my experience. The only Set " Magic " I ever experienced was 40W of Belcanto SE 40 -845 amp on 100dB system with horn top end and active subwoofers below 80 Hz . It had speed rivaling Naim and explosive dynamics with only a hint of so called elephant sound.. Well maybe , Lowther on a good day with front Azura horns had something going on with 45 amps I built, junk that they were ( Yamamoto clone ) Admittedly real Yamamoto was quite a bit better
as it has very good custom
C,-core trans and my 45 had basic O-netics trans.
The secret to good audio is to do opposite to what people on Audio and DIY audio forums are advising🙂
as it has very good custom
C,-core trans and my 45 had basic O-netics trans.
The secret to good audio is to do opposite to what people on Audio and DIY audio forums are advising🙂
I've read that 845 amps produce a rather "aggressive sound." Is that similar to what you heard with your 845 amps?
In my experience, any graphite-plate tube can have a more "aggressive" sound if not handled properly--this includes 845, 6336, 6528, etc. My 845 amps (I built two sets of monoblocks which are still in use by friends) did not sound "aggressive" but I took care with the filament supply and other components to ameliorate this. Years ago someone made a graphite-plate 300B, and I see Shuguang still makes them. They certainly sound different from the standard metal-plate variety. There were also metal-plate 845s available at one point, but IMO this defeats the purpose. ;-) One advantage of graphite plates is that they can produce a more robust sound.
The least wimpy 300B amp that I've heard is one that uses an 2a3 as driver via IT to 300B. dynamics & bass in spade. It was driving a 86db Dali book shelf speaker
I've always liked a power tube driving the 300B. The Grant Fidelity 300B used this idea, with a triode-wired EL34 driving the 300B. Nice amp.
Dht driving a Dht should sound better I think beside the 2A3 has a sound that's loved by many.
Cheers
Cheers
Maybe, maybe not. ;-) DHT driving DHT makes for a more complicated power supply and potentially more noise. A triode-wired pentode or beam-power tube will have better transconductance and is much easier (and cheaper) to implement. That said, a 10Y driving a 300B is a very nice sound. ;-)
A 10Y driving a 300B is indeed a very nice sound. A 10Y driving a 2a3 is an even nicer sound - that's my own system. Put a nice step-up transformer in 1:4 in front of it and you have a perfect 2 stage all-DHT amp. I use a Hammond 1140-LN-C. Transformed my system, so to speak.
I believe stock caps are Nichicon metallized poly caps and "Upgrade" caps Mundorf silver/gold/oil, which can be improved upon as well. I used Jupiter copper foil caps to replace Mundorfs. EH 300B are decent 300B, but unfortunately, more decent 300B's cost WAY more.
But I use the amp on speakers with sensitivity ranging from 90+ dB to 100+ dB horns, usually without passive crossover in the way, so the circumstances cannot be compared..
Not to derail this thread but do you have a schematic for the 10Y driving the 300B?
No, I don't. You would have to use a choke load or IT because it needs a lot of B+, same as the 300B really. It may be that I tried it with the 845 because I had loads of B+ to spare and just did a 10K plate load or something like that. And it was an 801A I used.
@grovergardner. Are you responding to my request for a schematic for a 10Y driving a 300B? I'm afraid I'm confused 😅
Are you familiar with High End market ? Meaning, you had high end pieces at your home in your system ? Or just listened to accidental setups on Audio Shows? Don't get me wrong. I don't like mainstream High End sound but most here do and want to copy it for cheap. Problem is they almost never have the pieces they copy at home and are convinced they are getting the same exact results.
My remark was general in nature and the rule applies universally. Spend the money upfront so you won't have to spend it twice.
Yes, that was my response. I don't have a schematic. There are several 10Y/300B projects out there if you google it.
Thanks @grovergardner, I was actually hoping that @andyjevans had a schematic of his 10Y to 300B build .