Yeah I totally understand the crazed DIY impulse. I am building a modified EAR 834 phono stage right now and I don't remember why! Saw a bunch of guys over on Lenco Heaven building the China ripoff PCBs so that got me started. I'm using all surplus precision wirewounds to see what they sound like, otherwise 12AX7s with FB EQ is not what I would usually gravitate toward. WTF...who is steering this vessel anyway?
Especially when I have a set of silver wire LCR modules and a pr of Silk 10k LCR modules I need to try, and all of the parts on hand to build those swankier options.
If you have the goods for a PP 2A3, that amp should have pretty good control, especially if you drive the snot out of the 2A3s with a topology that can provide current, such as the Brook 12A hookup (use the primary of a cheap PP trans as the split choke, or Heyboer can make you one).
Don't know how far you have to go to run Basszillas.
My bud Mike Quinn just bought a Yamamoto 45 amp and found a pr of Zu speakers that he likes with them, more than his old Zus or DeVores, both of which he sold off. Initially he was all worried about the low power but he outgrew that phobia after a week. It is what it is and does what it does, which is very good.
The concept of multiamp seems appealing on paper but do we really need all of that segmentation of the continuum? In my mind, a widerange LF speaker with a widerange horn in a two way with only the filters needed to make the speakers work where they are most compelling is the most complex technology that the SE45 deserves, if you want to revel in that SE45 holism.
I'm feeling that multiway multiamp setups might trade off some organic wholeness for impressive sonics, which might be a fun and educational experiment. Also, playing around with a flexible digital xover can tell you a lot about what working conditions your drivers/horns are most happy under, for future reference. Then, if you want to back down to a simpler arrangement, you can do so with some guiding experience.
At a recent Munich show, we had a multiamp setup using two $150 DBX analog xovers, with a Marantz 9 on low bass, say under 60 hz (EV-30"s), a 300B SE on midbass up to 120 (Lansing 415 field coils), then a 750 mW 6900 SE on six WE 555 drivers with 11A horns and one pr of 24A horns. No xover on the horns, which were good to like 125hz. It hung together fairly well and it was spectacularly "impressive" as a demo item. Crazy stuff. Hard on the brain to process compared with a simple singe or two way though. Too much information processing going on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUy-S9MiynwThe humble DBX223 crossovers sounded quite good in this and other experiments and they are cheap. Something like a couple miniDSPs would give a lot more flexibility though, at the cost of a roomful of junk, which most of us have already anyway.