Single Ended Amp Comparison?

[Stuart Montaldo]

Does anyone have opinions about comparative sound of various single
ended amps such as Cary SLA-70, Golden Tube Audio SE-40, Audio
Innovations, etc.? I'm looking for a reasonably prices single-ended
amp to drive a pair of ProAc Response 2's. What are the sonic
differences, watch-outs, etc? I don't know much about single-ended.

Thanks for any information.

Stuart.

[Ashley Chua]

Stuart Montaldo <71712...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:

I'm afraid that both the SLA 70 and the GTA SE-40 are not single
ended, but are push pull pentode amps. I used to have a CARY SLA 70
before I got a AES SE-! kit, and the SLA 70 is a fuss free budget tube
amp. It has a reasonably deep and tight bass with a soundstaging that
you'd have to pay a lot more to fault. Need less to say, midrange for
tube amps are magical,.. they have that special quality. And with the
latest incarnation of the SLA-70, you'd have no problem driving the
ProAcs. Best of all the SLA 70 is self biasing so you can basically
change from a 6550 to a EL34 or E34L or 6L6 without tinkering with the
amp.

[Shiv Swarup Pathak]

Excerpts from netnews.rec.audio.high-end: 20-Sep-95 Re: Single Ended Amp
Compar.. by Ashley Ch...@singnet.com.

> I'm afraid that both the SLA 70 and the GTA SE-40 are not single
> ended, but are push pull pentode amps.

I'm not sure about the Cary, but I do know for a fact that the GTA SE
(single ended) 40 is single ended. However, you are correct in saying
that it is pentode (not triode).

Shiv

[Ashley Chua]

anal...@aol.com (AnalogLvr) wrote:

>As far as I know the Cary SLA-70 is not a single ended amp. It is a
>push-pull amp. I am familiar with the Golden Tube Audio SE-40 which
>is a parallel push single ended amp using 3 6L6 tubes per side.
>Cary's "buget" division, Audio Electronic Supply, makes a $899 single
>ended amp the SE-1 which uses one Cetron 300B tube per side. This amp
>sounds very good for the price but like all 300B single ended amps
>only puts out 12 watts and may sound amenic through Respons 2. It
>also does't sound anywhere near as good as Cary's CAD 300SE, or other
>high priced single ended amps using the wonderful 300B output tube.

Of course it does not sound as good as the CAD 300SE, mind you you're
paying 3 times more for the CAD 300SE, and the 300SEs are monoblocks.
For budget audiophiles, the SE-1 kit is a good start into the single
ended realm. As for the other high priced amps using the 300Bs, nuff
said!

As for it sounding anemic, I'm using the SE-1 with my Keswick Arias,
86db sensitivity, and the sound for me is far from anemic. My advice
is to let your ears be the judge. I remembered Mr Dennis Had using a
pair of Response 1s for one of the CES a year or two ago, driving the
12 watt 300SE, so watt for watt, it shouldn't be a problem.

[AnalogLvr]

>Of course it does not sound as good as the CAD 300SE, mind you you're
paying 3 times more for the CAD 300SE, and the 300SEs are monoblocks.
For budget audiophiles, the SE-1 kit is a good start into the single
ended realm. As for the other high priced amps using the 300Bs, nuff
said

Yes, with the CAD 300SE you pay 3 times more than for the SE-1, but
you get 3 times the sound. Despite the fact that they both use single
300B output tube per channel the 300SE sounds much more dynamic than
the SE-1. For less than $1000 your money is better spent on the
Golden Tube Audio SE40.

Alan T