I have a pair of Takatsuki 300B's in my Cortese. I put my Cetron 300b's aside in case I ever want to use them again. The takatsuki's are wonderful. If the WE300b market continues to explode it's a good alternative.

Simon

Hi - I'm quite ignorant of Shindo stuff - have never hear it - but am attracted to it from all that I've ready. I'm also curious. The Cortese F2a uses rare tubes - has anybody heard both the F2a and the 300B version of the Cortese and able to comment on any differences in their sound ?

I know the F2a version has global feedback, tending to reduce the impact of the output tube details on the exact sound - anybody know if the 300B version is of the same basic design, or if it is free of feedback ?

Bigun... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Does anyone know the technical detail of the different Cortese versions? And more importantly, how did the sonic character change over the versions?

I'm talking about the f2a versions. I think there are 3.

1. 2 x F2a tubes + 2 x 6aw8a
2. 2 x F2a tubes + 4 x 6aw8a
3. 2 x F2a tubes + 2 x ecl82 + tube rectifier (5u4gb???).

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering if the Cortese 300b would be good match for my Devore O/96s.

Actually I am looking for recommendations for best Shindo amp for the O/96s, any thoughts. Art Dudley believes that shindo amps don't have an hierarchy, is that true. I have read most of the posts on this site on the shindo forum so I do know that WE300b is not the way to go, but what is the best amp for O/96s ?

P.S: Apologies for adding to this thread, it seems I don't have the privilege on this site to start a new thread.

essrand.......Welcome to Audio Aficionado. :wave:

Once you have 10 posts you will be able to start a thread. The other option is to become a forum Subscriber. You can then immediately post your thread plus benefit from many other features of the forum available only to Subscribers. It will also give you access to the Audio Aficionado Marketplace and Private Messaging.

Become a Subscriber by following this link: http://www.audioaficionado.org/payments.php

Cool, thanks for the info. Will do so.

Hi Essrand,

Most Shindo owners, Mr. Dudley included would say that the hierarchy lies with the preamps in that you get "more" as you climb toward the Petrus summit. With the power amps it's more about different flavors. I have an el34 Montrachet that I used with my old 0/96's which was a great combo. I also briefly listened to the Cortese 300b with them at In Living Stereo in NYC but was too short to give a detailed opinion. Never heard the F2A version

Thank you very much for your response McSlipp.

If you have a moment. Even your briefest thoughts on the Cortese 300b would be most useful. There is almost nothing, nothing out there about this version of the amp except for a German blog comparing the 300b to the f2a version which is quite hard to understand in its google-translated page.

Thanks!

I only had maybe 15 mins with the 300b but as I recall it had a very rich velvety mid-range, think heavy cream vs. skim milk but without being slow. Wasn't the last word in the bass dept, but that said we were listening to jazz that didn't go terribly deep to begin with. Even with 12 watts it was perfectly happy driving the O/96's. I've not done a side by side but the Cortese is basically a bargain at 1/2 the price of the Y'Quem's & 1/3 the WE Limited. I wonder what the new WE 300b reissues would do for improvement.