pauln Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 I usually listen to my system almost every night. The end of last month I carried my turntable over to Rick Rigler's to help test the phono preamp he made and compare to his turntable, which he thought was having some problems. Turns out the belt on his table is just a little longer than it should be and was making it play about a whole step too low in pitch (we compared like record to CD). Rick has a gorgeous pair of Heresys with cane grills. I brought my table home in its box and got distracted. I bought a new Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier and joined a band. I spent the last two weeks learning the lead guitar parts for 30 songs and my turntable sat in the box. Just tonight I put the table back into service and fired up the tubes. Played Rush-Presto, then Jefferson Airplane-Surrealistic Pillow, then Brahm's Violin Concerto. For those that play SETs, do you remember the first time you heard them? Remember how peculiar they sounded at first? How it took about ten minutes of listening to realize what was going on? Well, after not hearing mine for two weeks, that is just what happened to me all over again, I love'm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 I usually listen to my system almost every night. The end of last month I carried my turntable over to Rick Rigler's to help test the phono preamp he made and compare to his turntable, which he thought was having some problems. Turns out the belt on his table is just a little longer than it should be and was making it play about a whole step too low in pitch (we compared like record to CD). Rick has a gorgeous pair of Heresys with cane grills. I brought my table home in its box and got distracted. I bought a new Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier and joined a band. I spent the last two weeks learning the lead guitar parts for 30 songs and my turntable sat in the box. Just tonight I put the table back into service and fired up the tubes. Played Rush-Presto, then Jefferson Airplane-Surrealistic Pillow, then Brahm's Violin Concerto. For those that play SETs, do you remember the first time you heard them? Remember how peculiar they sounded at first? How it took about ten minutes of listening to realize what was going on? Well, after not hearing mine for two weeks, that is just what happened to me all over again, I love'm... Worse yet I sold my SET amps to try other topologies but haven't found anything I like better. The Canary Audio SET amps had superior build quality and the transformers were wound by an old McIntosh employee. I really miss my SET amps but I would like to try 211 or 845 SET next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 The first tube amp I ever heard was a SET. I bought it with a bunch of other stuff, not having any idea what it was, and decided to put it on the Khorns to see if it worked. I unhooked the 200wpc Mac amp and put the 8wpc amp in its place. It only took me about 20 seconds for my jaw to hit the floor. I had been playing around with 18" subwoofers to augment my Khorns! Next thing I know, I'm listening to all kinds of different music on this little tube amp. Not enough bass, but it didn't matter, everything else was so fine. Still thinking of ways to add more bass (weight - impact) without giving up the SET sound. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago_Pete Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 When I had my Decware amps I also owned (not very efficient) B&W 804 speakers. Guess I never got to experience what everyone is digging about these? Often wonder how they would sound with my Khorns? And Pauln, I now want to burn all of my guitars after hearing that you can learn 30 leads in only two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 "Remember how peculiar they sounded" Not wanting to start a war but this really made me laugh...... thanks [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Yeh. I remember Bottlehead Paramours driving LaScalas in my living room, first time ever. Thought the sound was amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Yeh. I remember Bottlehead Paramours driving LaScalas in my living room, first time ever. Thought the sound was amazing. Have you heard the Bottlehead Paramounts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paully Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Interesting thing is I have my amps going into my Chorus II and havetoo much bass. And when I played 2 watts into Mark's Khorns Ididn't notice any bass was lacking. I wonder if auditioninganother SET amp is in order. Wish you were nearby, I would bringmine over. A powered sub is always an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Yeh. I remember Bottlehead Paramours driving LaScalas in my living room, first time ever. Thought the sound was amazing. Have you heard the Bottlehead Paramounts? No, until just now didn't even know there was such a thing. It would be interesting to A/B with Paramours. In A/B with Paramour the Geo Wright 2A3's I thought the Paramour was 95% of the Geo Wright amps. Not much difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Yeh. I remember Bottlehead Paramours driving LaScalas in my living room, first time ever. Thought the sound was amazing. Have you heard the Bottlehead Paramounts? No, until just now didn't even know there was such a thing. It would be interesting to A/B with Paramours. In A/B with Paramour the Geo Wright 2A3's I thought the Paramour was 95% of the Geo Wright amps. Not much difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macho Nacho Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Her name wasn't Set, it was Jennifer and we both were drunk and high. Whoa it was good for me at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted October 13, 2007 Author Share Posted October 13, 2007 And Pauln, I now want to burn all of my guitars after hearing that you can learn 30 leads in only two weeks. Please don't burn any guitars on my account. I did not mean to imply that I just began playing the guitar, I've played lead for 35 years. The new band gave me 2 CDs with 30 songs they already play and asked me to learn a couple for the next rehearsal. So what the hell, I learned all of them. They had been waiting six months to find the right guitar player to replace their old one (he moved away) and had not gigged during that period. With me joining them they thought at first that this December would be a good target date for starting to play out again. Nice surprize for them - now out first playout is Sunday after next. When I was a kid I played with a guy that was pretty good and asked him how long he had been playing the guitar; he said two weeks, which was unbeleivable until he added that he had played the violin for years - so both his head and his hands aready pretty much knew what to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Craig, we're all here to make you smile, buddy. Have a laugh on us.[] Greg's description of his jaw hitting the floor after hearing his first SET amp pretty much described my reaction to my 300B amp to a tee (with its awesome midrange lushness that to my ears really stands out and grabs me)! Although I'm still extremely impressed with the sound quality of my SET power amp with both the old Cornwalls and my current RB-75s, my two brother's KT88, EL34, 6BQ5, 6V6, and 6L6 PP tube amps never failed to entertain my ears with glorious music either! What can I say, I love tubes...but I'm still especially fond of SET. And Greg, if funds permit, you may want to try using two subs. I'm definately not wanting for more bass![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 "Remember how peculiar they sounded" Not wanting to start a war but this really made me laugh...... thanks [] But that's how they sounded to me ................. peculiar .... , the first time, when I listened to a second set of SET's, again with Khorns, and still didn't care for sound, I found it BASS lacking .................. two up, two down, and have at this point, decided to stay away from SET's ............... Just what I remember from my first two times I listened to a SET amp ............ not starting a war either, just honestly answering the question .................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 I was reading Stereophile's component ratings list just last evening, and of course the new La Scalas were mentioned and given a very positive review. The gentleman who reviewed them also enjoys SET amps, and found 3.5 watts more than enough. He also kept the speakers. The modified version of Lessard's Horus parafeed monoblocks I built were a fantastic match for La Scalas. I remember when another local forum member came over to see the LSs when I was selling them to move to K-horns, I used the Horus amps for the audition. I honestly started to re-think my decision to sell the speakers; that amp/speaker combination was superb. Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Erik, what is that other set of speakers ? .... just curious, are they "home made"? Did the SET's power them too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Erik, what is that other set of speakers ? .... just curious, are they "home made"? Did the SET's power them too? Hi - Those are our Lowther drivers in the rear-loaded horn cabinet that came as a kit from Lowther America. Yes, I sometimes switched to them for classical guitar or Baroque music. Lowther bass in these cabinets drops is not deep, but in their frequency range they have a very open and clear sound, and of course do not use or need a crossover. They are still easily the most revealing speaker we have in terms of associated electronics, and the Horus amps were great with them, as are the Moondogs, Moth 2A3, and surprisingly, also the Teac digital amps. The Lowther voice coils are 15 ohms, and I have not experienced drawbacks with this higher impedance that some have with digital amps. That's just a subjective thing, though. With the Lowthers, I do prefer tube amplifiers. Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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