Quote:
Originally Posted by pechelman
Hi there everyone. 
Was hoping I could pose the questions I asked to Dennis via ebay here as well. Been over a week or so and haven't heard back, so thought I'd solicit you all as well since it sounds like many have direct experience with many of his amps and continuing development.
Right now I'm looking to compliment a bottlehead crack headphone amp/hd580. I've got a very small space (12x13) with 2 adjoining rooms of roughly equal size on 2 of the 4 sides. Right now I have no speakers or preamps or anything other than the noted headphone amp. My plan was to feed whatever amp digital audio & flac files for now. I listen to most everything. Classic to hard rock, lots of jazz, female vocals, electronica, classical, folk, rap, everything. Value resolution over loudness, prefer moderate listening levels, like bass, but dont need / want it to shake the house. Have a bit of a preference too for a slightly laid back warm sound, which is why I guess I'm looking at a tube amp. Specifically, it's the way I've read Dennis write about his amps, talk about listening, and reading here that's drawn me to his stuff.
Given my blank slate, where should I start with his amps? SET 45? 300B?
Couple of other questions to go with the DH amp recommendation;
Given my small space and whatever amp you think might be best, what might be a few suitables speakers to look at? Been looking at Omega and Tekton at the moment to give an idea of budget as well.
Is it possible (and able to produce decent results) to run one of these amps off a digital audio player (2V max out I believe)? One of the main reasons I've been trying to reach Dennis directly is to ask about this and the possibility / necessity of adding a volume control to his amp rather than also need to get a preamp if I dont need one. If anyone's willing could you please email me his contact info to pechelman AT gmail?
Really appreciate any advice here. Thanks! |
I'd pick the speakers first, then the amp. If you like warm slightly laid back sound then you'll want to avoid the Tektons - they are good speakers but definitely not laid back. Omegas can sound good but you need to have heard a single driver speaker before you pick them. Single drivers do some things better than anything on the planet (ie, coherence) but have tradeoffs and an overall unique sound. Definitely try before you buy.
At Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, the speaker that surprised me the most for it's refined sound and high efficiency was the Klipsch Forte III. Note, historically I have NOT been a fan of Klipsch, but the Forte III used a new midrange with a better horn and it sounded phenomenal. Very clear, and not bright at all. And at 99db sensitivity, they can be driven by literally any amp on the planet.
Having said that, I'd recommend looking at Dennis' Single Ended Pentode (SEP) designs before the 300b or Type 45. The SEPs are nice because they are very flexible with how much power you can get out of them. Put in 6F6 or an EL84 and you get about 4 watts. Put in a KT150 and you get 12. That's a nice bit of flexibility to have.
I have a Type 45 amp and nothing beats it for "you are there" realism. But on a good day it only makes 2 watts. That's not much!! The SEPs that Dennis make is "almost" as good at the 'you are there' realism as the Type 45, while having a lot more bass/grunt/drive. I have a pair of Inspire SEP monoblocks Dennis made around 2014 and I love those things.
Anyway, my $.05
