dberning wrote:
Welcome aboard, Mike,
Tom is contagious, so beware. He got me to build a pair of woofers--even to the point of helping, of which I am still doing the final steps. And that's not all he got me to build! I am going to try to run these and my Merlins using passive crossovers using a 6-watt 300B SE. The reason is that I manufacture amps and I need to be able to evaluate amps full range. I used to bi-amp, but it was too difficult to make comparisons with amps. Some day I would like to have a 300B shoot-out as there are a number of folks in the group that have made these. I don't currently make a production 300B, but have in the past and may again someday.
David Berning
Thanks, David!
It all started with the High Water Sound setup at the last Capital Audiofest. It was not 300B, but it was a single tube SE and I liked it. So I purchased a Chinese 300B SE and gave it a listen. It was "ok" and obviously lacked the power for my floorstanders. But I felt that the thing had a potential, so I decided to build a push-pull class A amp. I'm lucky to have speakers with a very stable impedance (4 ohms going to 3.5 min) so it worked pretty well.
I'm also curious, what the requirements are for an amp to be manufactured, how it is different from a DIY.
As for the speakers, I don't know. They are highly inefficient non-linear devices by themselves and require a lot of effort to sound decent. The cabinets should not make them sound boxy, the crossover gives you linearity in exchange of efficiency, there is a lot of tradeoffs. Besides I'm completely satisfied by my floorstanders so far.
-Mike