need advice re buying new fleawatt SE amp

i told mr sayes my plan is to use a TVC or LDR so guess he factored that in.

i have them in a pretty small room but am likely to be moving within a year and then who knows what my room will look like. hopefully a bit bigger.

well, i'll try the 604s with the darling clementine amp and see how that works. if that feels lacking then that doesn't answer the 2A3 vs. 45 question but at least tells me what i want to avoid. however, if i'm happy w 0.75 wpc then the 45 amp should be good (again, current room is SMALL).
(the 6L6 amp does sound great with them, i've just heard so much about the 2A3/45/fleawatt SE sound i want to hear it on the altecs.

any thoughts re a bottlehead stereomour or the 2A3/45 switchable amps i linked to? also, i just noticed there is a guy on AK who might sell some bottlehead paramours (2a3 monos).
 
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Salectric said:
I don’t know anything about the specific amps but my SE amp is also a 417a IT coupled to a 46, and that combination is capable of very high sound quality. The 46 also sounds like it has much more power than the rated 1 1/4 watts.
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Oliver is a good guy — I’ve dealt with him before and look forward to trading with him again.

One beef I have with Oliver, though... he doesn’t charge enough for his beautifully crafted tube amps! :)

Knowing what I know of 46 tubes and Oliver’s builds, I’d be all over that first amp. It’d be worth building a system around...
 
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rogerfederer said:
i told mr sayes my plan is to use a TVC or LDR so guess he factored that in.

i have them in a pretty small room but am likely to be moving within a year and then who knows what my room will look like. hopefully a bit bigger.

well, i'll try the 604s with the darling clementine amp and see how that works. if that feels lacking then that doesn't answer the 2A3 vs. 45 question but at least tells me what i want to avoid. however, if i'm happy w 0.75 wpc then the 45 amp should be good (again, current room is SMALL).
(the 6L6 amp does sound great with them, i've just heard so much about the 2A3/45/fleawatt SE sound i want to hear it on the altecs.

any thoughts re a bottlehead stereomour or the 2A3/45 switchable amps i linked to? also, i just noticed there is a guy on AK who might sell some bottlehead paramours (2a3 monos).
Click to expand...
Hard to find reviews on the ASL Tulip and I never heard one, but have the Listener magazine review of it by Reichert which was a rave review - always wanted to search one out after reading that but built one instead. At that price though, I'd dive in - I couldn't build one again for <$1K. Has that switchable 45/2A3 option too which should help you out with your questions nicely. Yes, ASL is Chinese made which is a real problem for some and the quality could be hit or miss (I had an ASL phono-stage that was scary under the hood but still have a headphone amp that is really nicely built) - if the amp 'works' at this point it's probably fine, but you'd be taking the guy's word on it.

I have limited experience with the earlier bottlehead 2A3 stuff, none with the stereomour and have never had any of it in my own system.
 
Coincidentally I switched back today from my 46 monos to my regular amps which are 50 watt push-pull KT-120 monos. All I can say is WOW! As good as the 46 amps sound on my 99db speakers, the big PP amps are real Bad Boys. They play loud without any sense of strain or limitation, the bass is deep and powerful, they have excellent detail and dynamics across the board, and they sound big.

Honestly I go through this every time I swap amps. I like listening to the 46 amps especially for their smooth and detailed midrange. But after a few days with them, I am blown away by the sound of the 50 watters when they go back in.

The question in my mind is: do I prefer the PP amps because of the extra power or do I just prefer PP? Of course another possibility is that these particular PP amps are just really good.
 
Salectric said:
Coincidentally I switched back today from my 46 monos to my regular amps which are 50 watt push-pull KT-120 monos. All I can say is WOW! As good as the 46 amps sound on my 99db speakers, the big PP amps are real Bad Boys. They play loud without any sense of strain or limitation, the bass is deep and powerful, they have excellent detail and dynamics across the board, and they sound big.

Honestly I go through this every time I swap amps. I like listening to the 46 amps especially for their smooth and detailed midrange. But after a few days with them, I am blown away by the sound of the 50 watters when they go back in.

The question in my mind is: do I prefer the PP amps because of the extra power or do I just prefer PP? Of course another possibility is that these particular PP amps are just really good.
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What you need is a nice 845 based SET amp. ;)
 
A hearty recommendation for the Bottlehead stereomour (the II) 2A3 amp with DC filaments. Plus 100 for the original stereomour with 45's. The first version can be switched between 2A3's and 45's pretty easily or just set it to 45 and run the 2A3 at a lower voltage (you lose about a db). Easy to set them as power amps too without the pots. I have them both, love my 45's and my 2A3-40 amps, they combine to cover most every genre of music.
 
Not sure if I can add much here.. Have Altec 604's.. Have Almarro A205A MKII, Have 45 SET and KT88 PP's. Was running the Almarro for a year and went back the PP and didn't do it for me. Been playing with the 45 for about a month now. Really liking it, but have had to realign my turntable, play with the gain on my phono amp and pre-amp. Think I have it about right now. Everything is sounding very good. Kind of playing with Speaker placement now, seems that that something changed and not getting the same soundstage. I think a few more weeks and it will be time to switch back to the Almarro and see.

Not sure a passive pre would do it for me on the 45's. Seems to need the additional drive.

Initially and still want to try 2A3's. This 45 amp just happened along and right now I'm liking it and taking more time to listen to music.
 
I have an electraprint PVA preamp that has some gain. however, it is fussy re inputs. need to have low output impedance. i also have a bottlehead smash preamp but the tubes get microphonic in the room where the 604s are located (sprung wood floor). have a superphon revelation II on the way, no idea how much gain that has or how it sounds.
 
rogerfederer said:
I have an electraprint PVA preamp that has some gain. however, it is fussy re inputs. need to have low output impedance. i also have a bottlehead smash preamp but the tubes get microphonic in the room where the 604s are located (sprung wood floor). have a superphon revelation II on the way, no idea how much gain that has or how it sounds.
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The Electraprint PVA, Schiit Saga and @Redboy Audio TVC (S&B transformers) plus my active preamps.

The Electraprint PVA is more finicky about the source output impedance. Still definitely worth trying and it would not surprise me if the PVA works well enough to meet your needs.

The Schiit Saga (6SN7 buffered passive) and @Redboy Audio TVC are not finicky about source output impedance.

The active preamps might have a very slight edge in drive. The Saga and the TVC have an edge in transparency.

Just depends on what is important to you.
 
just thinking of what options i have if i need an active preamp to make a 45 or 46 amp cut it with the 604s
my TVC is based on slagle modules
i am a detail guy so don't need a preamp to add color
 
rogerfederer said:
just thinking of what options i have if i need an active preamp to make a 45 or 46 amp cut it with the 604s
my TVC is based on slagle modules
i am a detail guy so don't need a preamp to add color
Click to expand...

A Slagle based TVC should work fine.

I'm driving 40 or so feet with the S&B based TVC that I got from @Redboy without issue.

One of these days, I'll get my Quicksilver active dual chasis, dual mono linestage preamp back with Slagleformers as the volume controls.

Best of both worlds? ;)
 
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