Ritchie Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I recently purchased a pair of Cornwall III's. I am in the process of building a set amp. My choice is between a 45 or 300b. Was hoping someone here could tell me if a 45 at 2W will work with the Cornwalls especially power wise. Can it get to average listening levels and control the large woofer. I am presently using a pp el34 diy amp at about 35W. Works fine but have the bug to do a set amp. One of the reasons I chose the speakers. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Welcome to the forums! https://community.kl...attach_id=69980 I'd actually recommend a push-pull design instead with at least 8 W/channel--with 18 W/channel being much better. You don't really want to clip on transients when playing back anything approaching concert volume - even acoustic-only instrumentation. Of course, you could bi-amp and still use your lower power SET. Edited September 23, 2014 by Chris A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) I used to use a 8.5 watt 300B amp for my K-horns. Plenty of power, but K-horns are more efficient than Cornwalls. Only 2 watts seems kind of under powered to push that 15 inch woofer, I would think you give up a fair amount of bass. My Chorus, which is similar to a Cornwall, liked a more powerful amp to get the bass really going. Edited September 23, 2014 by tromprof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick J B Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I recently purchased a pair of Cornwall III's. I am in the process of building a set amp. My choice is between a 45 or 300b. Was hoping someone here could tell me if a 45 at 2W will work with the Cornwalls especially power wise. Can it get to average listening levels and control the large woofer. I am presently using a pp el34 diy amp at about 35W. Works fine but have the bug to do a set amp. One of the reasons I chose the speakers. Thanks Ritchie, what amps are you contemplating building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) An alternate tube to try may be the 6c33c-b...a bit less expense for the tubes, can make a 12-15 watt single ended amp with them which should get the corns singing. (I found out about that tube right here, including full schematics from the pages of Glass Audio, but that thread is buried deep in the archives so use the search function.) Edited September 23, 2014 by Ski Bum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 you can do 12 watts Se with an 6CA7 (EL34). I don't see why you would not want to build a 45 amp I hear they are stunning and a single watt can play a CW quite loud. If you decided that you wanted more jam then you could use the 45 to run the horns and almost anything else to run the woofer. No problems with that so long and you can adjust the gain of the two amplifiers you use to match up. One of the powerful sounding amplifiers I have ever hear was a SE 2A3 so low watts has nothing to do with bass response or impact but you will be limited as to hoe loud you can play. Build your 45 amp and see what you think. Perhaps you can borrow one locally for a listen before you build any 3/4 to 1 watt amp will tell you what you want to know. Having a 2A3 amp and having run sub one watt amplifiers in the past I can say you will be very surprised with what a watt can do but 10 - 12 really does give you a whole lot more range. Best regards Moray James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmusic Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 FWIW I run a 45 amp 2 wpc max on my khorns and can achieve enough volumev to run you out of the house 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Khorns are 5x more efficient than Cornwalls--I believe you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchie Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 The amp I am looking at building is the tubelab se. I have the tubelab sse and eiclone mono blocks and prefer the eiclones right now, mostly in the bass. I am using Edcor outputs on the sse and no feedback. Would use better outputs and I'm assuming a true dht will be better. Appreciate the help. Ritchie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchie Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 I can put 6V6 tubes in my sse with a B+ adjustment, this would give me approx. 1.5-2W. Hopefully this will give me some loudness indication but will not tell me how the 45 will behave especially in the bass region with the Cornwalls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick J B Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 The amp I am looking at building is the tubelab se. I have the tubelab sse and eiclone mono blocks and prefer the eiclones right now, mostly in the bass. I am using Edcor outputs on the sse and no feedback. Would use better outputs and I'm assuming a true dht will be better. Appreciate the help. Ritchie Awesome! My son and I are gathering parts to build the same amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I recently purchased a pair of Cornwall III's. I am in the process of building a set amp. My choice is between a 45 or 300b. Was hoping someone here could tell me if a 45 at 2W will work with the Cornwalls especially power wise. Can it get to average listening levels and control the large woofer. I am presently using a pp el34 diy amp at about 35W. Works fine but have the bug to do a set amp. One of the reasons I chose the speakers. Thanks A 45 SET amplifier will work with Cornwalls, and will get average listening levels...but that all depends on the size of the room. If it is large to huge listening room, then the 1.5 watt 45 could be a bit on the light side for power. If the room is small, and if one listens primarily below 85 decibels, then a single-ended 45, 2A3, or even a SEP 6BQ5 would give moderate to loud levels. You won't ever get a continuous 105-115 decibels, but I doubt you are interested in SPL numbers when you want to build a SE 45 amplifier. The 2.5 watt 2A3 will net a extra watt of power, but I never noticed much differences (slight) in power between 45 and 2A3...just tonality the most. A single ended pentode connected 6BQ5/EL-84 amplifier can sound very nice with Cornwalls, at least to me with mine. I've plowed a many single-ended 6BQ5 amplifier and amplifier circuits through my Cornwalls...Motorola, RCA, Magnavox console pulls, and the RH84 circuit. (which was eventually a completed amp) They can sound really good. If it is a large to huge room, then a push-pull 6BQ5 amp with about 7-8 watts per side would work pretty good.(like Chris A mentions) My Scott LK-48B has plenty of boogie factor with good sound. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchie Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) I recently purchased a pair of Cornwall III's. I am in the process of building a set amp. My choice is between a 45 or 300b. Was hoping someone here could tell me if a 45 at 2W will work with the Cornwalls especially power wise. Can it get to average listening levels and control the large woofer. I am presently using a pp el34 diy amp at about 35W. Works fine but have the bug to do a set amp. One of the reasons I chose the speakers. Thanks A 45 SET amplifier will work with Cornwalls, and will get average listening levels...but that all depends on the size of the room. If it is large to huge listening room, then the 1.5 watt 45 could be a bit on the light side for power. If the room is small, and if one listens primarily below 85 decibels, then a single-ended 45, 2A3, or even a SEP 6BQ5 would give moderate to loud levels. You won't ever get a continuous 105-115 decibels, but I doubt you are interested in SPL numbers when you want to build a SE 45 amplifier. The 2.5 watt 2A3 will net a extra watt of power, but I never noticed much differences (slight) in power between 45 and 2A3...just tonality the most. A single ended pentode connected 6BQ5/EL-84 amplifier can sound very nice with Cornwalls, at least to me with mine. I've plowed a many single-ended 6BQ5 amplifier and amplifier circuits through my Cornwalls...Motorola, RCA, Magnavox console pulls, and the RH84 circuit. (which was eventually a completed amp) They can sound really good. If it is a large to huge room, then a push-pull 6BQ5 amp with about 7-8 watts per side would work pretty good.(like Chris A mentions) My Scott LK-48B has plenty of boogie factor with good sound. Mike My room is 26'x17'x8'. Thanks for the info. that gives me some ideas. Very helpful forum. Ritchie Edited September 24, 2014 by Ritchie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchie Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 The amp I am looking at building is the tubelab se. I have the tubelab sse and eiclone mono blocks and prefer the eiclones right now, mostly in the bass. I am using Edcor outputs on the sse and no feedback. Would use better outputs and I'm assuming a true dht will be better. Appreciate the help. Ritchie Awesome! My son and I are gathering parts to build the same amp. Cool, have you decided on output transformers yet? Ritchie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick J B Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 The amp I am looking at building is the tubelab se. I have the tubelab sse and eiclone mono blocks and prefer the eiclones right now, mostly in the bass. I am using Edcor outputs on the sse and no feedback. Would use better outputs and I'm assuming a true dht will be better. Appreciate the help. Ritchie Awesome! My son and I are gathering parts to build the same amp. Cool, have you decided on output transformers yet? Ritchie Yes, the Edcor units that George recommends. I figure if anyone knows, its him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritchie Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Another amp option I was thinking of trying is the music machine which is a 6V6 triode wired pp approx. 8W. From some of the feedback here it sounds like low power pp el84 amps work well with Klipsch. Ritchie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moray james Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 A PP6v6 will sound excellent. You can also built the same amp with a 66AQ5 which is a miniature ruggidized version of the octal 6V6 the 6AQ5 has way less microphonics compared to a 6V6. 6V6 is one of the special sounding audio tubes. Best regards Moray James. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trioid Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hi - I have CW IIIs and for several years have run them with Bottlehead Paramount SET monoblock amps running 300Bs at ~8 W. This is in a pretty large room. Plenty of power. Cheers, Jim 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick J B Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hi - I have CW IIIs and for several years have run them with Bottlehead Paramount SET monoblock amps running 300Bs at ~8 W. This is in a pretty large room. Plenty of power. Cheers, Jim Yeah, unless you're wanting to go deaf you should be able to rock the Casaba with 8 watts through most Klipsch speakers. My RF-82 II's will play louder than I need with 2 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 Yeah, unless you're wanting to go deaf you should be able to rock the Casaba with 8 watts through most Klipsch speakers. My RF-82 II's will play louder than I need with 2 watts. You would be amazed if you heard some of the demos that I periodically do with CWs and a 1/3 wpc SET!!! No one believes me when I tell them what the maximum power is! Maynard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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