Oldchen EL34 or 300b?

warmseth

New Member
Im interested in getting into my first tube amp and I've been really impressed with the wiring on the aiqin Oldchen line of amps. I'll do a lot of streaming from a phone so blue tooth is important. This narrows me to their EL34 amp or their significantly more expensive 300b. The 300b is attractive in that it has multiple inputs and I want to attach a TT and a CD player. I have really mediocre speakers (JBL Northridge E30) with a lousy sensitivity of about 85ish. While I'd like to upgrade the speakers I can't afford to for a while. Will the 300b drive these? 8x2 output wattage seems like it would need pretty sensitive speakers. That said, my apartment is pretty small and I'm not big on LOUD music. So if I can get by with these speakers on the 300b then I may go that route.

Link to 300b amp:
https://hifi-exquis.com/300b-2a3c-tube-amp/277-oldchen-300b-tube-amplifier.html

Link to EL34 amp:
https://hifi-exquis.com/single-ende...ocel34s-el34-single-ended-tube-amplifier.html
 
85dB Sensitivity speakers would not be ideal for the 300B and not exactly a great match for the SE EL34 either for that matter. The two amps would shine better (and sound differently) on very efficient speakers but if you have to live with inefficient ones for now the EL34 amp would fare better IMO. The EL34 option would also leave you a little more $ to look around for used higher efficiency speakers, or for spare tubes.

The 300B has more inputs but they are all line level (DAC, CD, Aux), so you would need a Phono preamp for your TT anyway.

Another consideration is that the 300B tubes are generally more costly than EL34, so replacement cost will likely be higher if you are watching the $.

I updated the Title for you
 
Thank you kindly for your input. I have a preamp for the TT as my marantz SS amp didn't have phono input either. I also have an old pair of wharfedale w60 speakers from the mid 60's that are much less power hungry. I'm not sure if the sensitivity but as 30w is their maximum and they were designed with tubes in mind I could run those. I have a blown sounding woofer (what they call woofer...really a mid) that would need fixing but perhaps if those are good enough that would be a more appropriate speaker to run the 300b? As you can tell I'm hoping somebody will tell me to get the 300b. ;)
 
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