Idontknow

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I’ll follow up again with the results and share what I decide on once I know.

https://www.dynakitparts.com/shop/st-35-kit-120-vac/ Kenny Russell of Funtastic Vintronics builds them to perfection with your choice of matched quad set tubes.

Guys, I’ve fallen in love with the sweetness and smoothness of the phenolic tweeters on my Forte 1’s. Can I replace the titanium tweeters on my Heresy 2’s and get the same effect? Does this require any changes with the crossovers as well? Can I just switch the diaphragms? Thanks, —-daniel

The ST35 with Aretha and Forte I’d.

That's what's so ironic. There's hardly and reviews on these ST35's.

The SIT3 actually belongs to a buddy of mine and we share gear.

Thanks for the kind words. Yea, I've always been fascinated with Dynaco's and then this little ST35 came along and it's really special. I'm getting another one for my Heresy's. This will tame the top end some. It's certainly an amazing match with my Aretha preamp and my Dynakit PAS-M preamp. The PAS-M is slightly warmer than my Aretha. Both are world class preamps for me and match nicely with this ST35.

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned this, you are right. My close friend John Hawk who is a video and sound engineer who also plays electric guitars and built electric guitars for a living said the same thing. I called him up telling him how extra special I thought the ST35 was and that it used the EL84's. He said the same thing you did and that the EL84 is one of the most popular tubes. It's easy to understand why. It has such a warm sound signature compared to anything else I've ever heard. When others say tubes sound warm, this amp really does sound warm. Todays tube amps, particularly those imported from China all sound too bright and overly detailed for my tastes. To me, that's not the best match for the Heritage line and since I love the Heritage lines, this EL84 is a godsend in fact I contacted Kenny Russell at Fantastic Vintronics who built this amp for me and told him I wanted the best EL84 tubes and 7247 tubes he had. I will have them next week. What I can't understand is how did the industry miss this little gem of an amp? It's beyond me. I just can't get over the sound, it's like nothing I've ever had.

Racer X, I've been meaning to tell you that your avatar is my favorite. When I was a kid, I idolized Racer-X He was very special.

The Erhard Aretha preamp. We use it for everything. https://www.erhard-audio.com/Aretha_MKII.html

At least for me. After having acquired a new tube amplifier to compare against all my others, I can honestly say I have finally found the holy grail tube amplifier or any amplifier for that matter to match with my room and my Forte I's. More on that later. Many people say tubes sound warm. I disagree, in fact if anything sounds warm, it's solid state amplifiers. Why? Because the vast majority of SS amps sound rolled off and muffled to my ears. There's just no spatial separation to speak of and unless you have a dampened room and you are extremely familiar with songs, you won't realize this. To me, that's what warm sounds like. After having worked with the First Watt SIT3, I really like this amp, but I like the First Watt F3 even more. First Watt SS amps are the only solid state amps I've heard that genuinely have a tube sound, meaning they sound holographic. No other solid state I've ever compared or tested to date has produced this effect. I never bothered with reviews. There's too many factors and just too many conflicting opinions, too many differences of music types, listening levels and the list goes on. And then we have these nut cases who think they can judge a product purely by how it measures. That's a joke and I'm not ashamed to say it. So, how did I do this? I purchased lots of different amps and borrowed many amps. It's the only way to truly be sure what you will learn to like in your own room with your own ears. What I or someone else likes, doesn't mean everyone else will like it. There's just too many factors, so I don't even bother. So, this is about what I like. My listening buddy Mirko says you can just EQ a solid state amp to make it sound like tubes. We tried this with a Parasound A23 Halo and it actually didn't sound too shabby but still, I prefer the First Watt SS amps more. He also brought the EVO400 integrated back after a couple of years of break in. I have to admit, it blew me away on the Forte's. It no longer sounded bright, brittle and harsh as compared to when we first got it. We recently compared the Decware Zen SE84UFO to the SIT3 and EVO400 too. I mainly play jazz and classical but mostly jazz. You can read my comparison here if interested but I'll explain something here I didn't in the review. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/decware-se84ufo-zen-vs-first-watt-sit3/post?postid=2395882#2395882 Imagine a string hanging down and you pour water down the string. Water will fall into each texture of every strand with ease. This is what a Decware Zen is like with Heritage speakers. It is without question one of the most amazing sounding amps you will ever hear with jazz. Even Andrew Robinson can't put it away in fact it is only recently that popular YouTubers started testing these Zen's, which is pathetic to say the least. It amazes me all the nonsense these guys review, but leave out these custom made amps to order. There are several others they miss as well. They're all too caught up in all the marketed crap as far as I'm concerned and I want no part of it. It amazes me that reviewers of their caliber have never heard these things until recently. Almost as bad as these measurement heads. The SIT3 reminded me of honey being poured down the string, not water. It seemed like instruments had a thicker sound to them. It had a slightly bigger sound and broader soundstage than the Decware Zen at higher volumes. BTW, in case you didn't know this, Decware strives to emulate the sound of the Zen in all their amps. It's the standard by which all their amps are made but they have to make them more powerful to handle more volume. The Zen just had a sweeter, prettier sound like silk. The SIT3 was still absolutely wonderful too but just tended to have a thicker meatier sound to it. Steve Guttenberg, the Audiopheliac likes the SIT3 because he says it has a meaty kind of sound to it with bass. For jazz, it just doesn't quite have the finesse as the tiny Zen. So what's my problem with the Zen? There are sometimes certain types of jazz where you just want to turn it up some and it sort of starts clipping. The SIT3 OTOH just keeps on going without fatigue. Then, when I heard the EVO400 again, it was like a Decware Zen on steroids. The bass is tighter and cleaner than any solid sate amp I've ever heard. It had everything going for it except it's very heavy, runs extremely hot and you're gonna need a well ventilated area to place this beast. It's LOUD!, LOUD as F...............! without any distortion using the Heritage line. Ultra tight, ultra clean. It's actually way overkill for my needs. To me, it's more about how nicely a component sounds at low volume with jazz, not how loud the volume is. But still! it's nice to have that extra power and volume on tap when called upon. It's human nature to think something sounds better whenever it's played louder. It's throwing more at you, but for me, a product has to sound sweet, warm and pretty at low volume to be great IMHO. Incredibly the Evo had a pretty sweet sound and balls to it! It sounded like water trickling down every texture of the string. What was the issue with the EVO? Unless we ran it with the Aretha tube preamp, the soundstage shrunk by about 20% in my guesstimation. Even Mirko agreed. He started asking me questions about the Aretha. So now you'd have to pay an additional $1900 at least to add that effect into the Evo400. We did this with the Zen as well. Finally I got my brand new Dynakit ST35. Mirko thinks I'm just hearing things and he'll be roasting me again soon I'm sure. Normally I have to sit and listen to things a while to really take them in but I was very familiar with these songs I was playing and how they sounded and the ST35 just sucked me in. That night, I never went to bed. I played jazz all night till the next day, refusing to sleep because this little ST35 just wouldn't quit! Mirko has a completely different sounding room. If you clap your hand, it will have an echo in the room. My room is far more sound deadened. If I clap my hand, there's pretty much no echo. Personally, I think it's harder to judge sound in a room that isn't treated and I think this is why Mirko thinks most amps sound alike. There's no way Mirko can come into this forum and say his room is treated, it's not. He doesn't believe all these differences I talk about, but I disagree. When you're by yourself, playing jazz at moderate listening levels and not blasting the sound, you really do tell differences between components. All the subtitles, whatever they may be become evident. I wish the Zen had the power of an Evo400 but I wish the Evo400 was smaller, lighter and took up less space since it sounded so close to the Zen with jazz. The Zen just doesn't have the might of that Evo400 nor would we expect it to at just a few watts per channel. I think the problem with audio reviews is most people fail to put matters into proper context. For example, they don't consider enough about how rooms, listening levels, tastes in music can affect ones opinions. IMO, you just have to be in your own room yourself and YOU (the listener) ultimately have to decide. So! despite many other amps I have tried but not mentioned, it doesn't matter. This tiny Dynakit ST35 I finally received is absolutely the sweetest thing I've ever heard to date. I can hear Mirko already... You're just bias because you just got it. But really! This little thing sounds warmer than the Zen, equally as sweet, but man, it has balls! It's got weight and meat on the bone and it's only 17.5 watts per channel but still way more power than the Zen. It's been said that it's the best of all the Dynaco amps ever and I absolutely would have to agree, it most definitely is! It's the most perfect amp I've ever heard to date. After going online, researching videos, I dropped my jaw in disbelief at how few if any reviews there are on this amazing tube amplifier. None of these big YouTubers have even reviewed it, what a shame! These guys spend WAY too much time with marketing gear, they really do! I can't say this little ST35 is the best thing for you guys, but for me, nothing sounds nicer to me, nothing! It has all the qualities of the best amps all in one for me. Every time I test amps, there's just always something that bugs me. Not this little ST35 though! Thank you for making me the most awesome amp Kenny! It's time to sell the rest.

I heard this older models and loved them. I prefer the older mid horn. $1300! what a steal. Way better than 6K.

Does it keep up with your Heresy's?

You don't get as much bass with front firing so it should be good IMO.

Joe, what music are you listening to? Also curious how big your room is.

I’m just trying to find the exact dimensions of their grills as well as the location of their brace if there is one. Any help is greatly appreciated or even a photo of the back side. I seem to recall them being solid with holes cut out. Can’t remember for sure. Thank you very much!

Hi Geezin I agree it’s all subjective, but too many listeners make too many mistakes regarding the context of their reasons for choosing SS. For example one of my friends argues tubes measure with more distortion, yet that’s one of the reasons tubes sound good. My other friend argues bass is better in SS. Yea, but at what volume levels is the user listening at? All these things matter, not to mention many others. If I was listening to inferior recordings which is often the case with many classic rock bands like Journey an Styx for example, I’d just use SS and be done. Tube aren’t doing anything to bring out anything that’s special because it doesn’t exist in the recordings to begin with. Many users of SS don’t explain or realize that. This week I’ll be comparing the Decware Zen, Primaluna EVO 400 and First Watt Sit3 on youtube. I’ll post my finding here when the video is released.

Everywhere I read, most state that tubes are colored and solid state are more accurate. Perhaps on paper with measurements and perhaps in recording studios, yet when I play jazz through solid state it bores me to death. There is little no no spatial separation around instruments with the single exception of First Watt solid state amps as far as I've heard so far. Those are entirely unique. To my ears, solid state is like a veil is in front of the instruments. That doesn't sound accurate to me. If anything solid state sounds less accurate for musical jazz reproduction. I believe it's true that solid state is technically more accurate but not when listening to it. My solid state friends argue with me all the time but what they forget all too often is the type of music being played and at what volume. It makes a huge difference.

Yea, I'm mostly playing jazz and classical but you guys have some legit points.

Fair enough.

🤣 I gotta admit you had me laughing. Hats off and love the background video. Love watching those channels too. 👍🏻

Sorry, not to break topic but what turntable is that? Looks nice.

I don’t think everything Bose made sounded bad.

Am I missing the context of your comment or are you serious? What’s wrong with blind testing? Probably 90% of the BS we argue about is because of what we see in front of us. Humans are highly influenced by what they see. This is why blind people are better listeners.

For example with my Forte 1’s I turned the bass knob on my preamp to 3 o’clock even though I don’t even need to do this and my friend said that’s way too much bass. Subs in my particular room are totally unnecessary but I’ll try them in a larger room and then maybe subs might be used. Interesting