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Thinking about building a SET amp - suggestions?

PaulyT

PaulyT

New Member
Hi all! New here. I just finished a DIY active crossover (sorry for the cross-forum link, but that's where I've been hanging out), and have on the way some Klipsch Heresys (1981) that I plan to drive with active crossover + tube (presumably SET) amp, as the initial experiment in this sort of thing.

Anyone here with experience in building these SET beasts? I don't even know where to start, though I do have a few other knowledgable contacts. But I'm looking for opinions and recommendations, and interested in any discussion.

Thanks!
 
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I learned a thing or two here and there :)

I'd recommend something like a kit from Bottlehead or Decware, but exactly what design you go with is dependent on how much oomph you need :) If you're using the SET for midrange & the top end horn, a single 2A3 per side should do the trick...
 
Thanks, will look those up. Yeah, this whole thing is new to me, but yes this is for the horns, and from what I gather elsewhere I'm looking at ~10W max, maybe less.
 
SE 300B will get you 8 watts. Beyond that, you're talking transmitting tubes and high voltages (unless you want to go to paralleld SE outputs). I assume you want at least triode mode if not gen-u-ine triode outputs (maybe direct heated such as the aforementioned 300B).

I agree with the Bottlehead suggestion.

If you really want to go DIY, search for "DC Darling" (a truly fleapowered SE 1626 amp), or "Gordon Rankin Bugle SE45" or "Angela Simple 45" and/or look at www.the-planet.org and/or look at the amp projects at http://www.boozhoundlabs.com/
 
Don't know what kind of volume you might want but you might also look into some Transcendent SE-OTL amps. I had a pair of those as well as a pair of Wright 2A3's, McIntosh MC30's, MC2102 and the SE-OTL amps were probably the most spooky best of all of them.

Their 1 1/2 watts (stereo) or 4 watts (bridged monoblocks) was nowhere near enough oomph for me so I ended up selling them.

The next tube amp I purchase will 99% be an OTL type amp
 
you should check out this link. It is a great sounding amp. I've heard it many times and still can't believe the quality, detail, and openness of this amp and all for under 200 bucks. You did a great job on the cross over. I don't mind building stuff but that is more little bits than I want to deal with. Anyway. I have most of the components to build the 6LU8 amp but am waiting for a bit of free time to get started. Cheers.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=163886
 
Yeah, at this point I'm pretty sure the Tubelab SE is what I'll be building. The other kits I've looked at are substantially more expensive, many because they include fancy enclosure, etc. With this one, I can tailor it a bit to my specific needs.
 
Go for it mate!
I just finished a tubelab simple se and man i can't tell you how good it sounds, compared to the s5 electronics kit i built before. . . . it makes the s5 sound like a pocket radio under a blanket.

Just collect all the parts you need before building and take your time, keep the amp as simple as you can, i went for a basic, clean amp just wired triode with no cathode feedback, around 8 watts per channel and into my 90.5db 3 way speakers its very loud indeed when you need it to be.

George is a genius of sorts, some of his experiments are mental!

Cheers,
Darran.
 
Is anyone familiar with this kit > http://store.tubedepot.com/diy-k-16ls.html

I've been thinking about buying a Yaqin tube amp but the kit in the link above is half the price and has enough power for my needs...if it lives up to its rating. Has anyone built one that could give me a review? Is it worth the price?
 
Ok, I've ordered the Tubelab SE board. Gonna start putting together the order(s) for all the parts. Should be fun!
 
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