jheis: For any who may have misunderstood, our recent "mashup" was just that. It was not an attempt to make any "judgments." It was simply an opportunity for a bunch of us audiophools to meet each other and listen to some equipment we hadn't heard before. I don't think any of us knew what to expect, other than that Josh was bringing his brand new pCATs & that Bob had Khorns & Belles. We all met some folks we hadn't met before, heard some music we hadn't heard before, tolerated each other

NOSValves: mike stehr: "Agreed. Let me add to your comments if I could. If you listen to jazz near field at lower SPL's, then you'd probably want to think seriously about a SET amp(s) as they excel for this particular purpose IMO. If you listen to anything but jazz, or want to have a little headroom without your amp(s) falling on it's face, get something else." If you want to listen to cannon shots, buy a cannon. Tom's extreme suggestion is no different then using four jazz recordings used to do

Mr. Piranha, Please outline for us which SET amp you have owned that would qualify you to make any comment within this thread with any first hand knowledge. BTW,.......A response that you don't own one, never have owned one, but you spent the night at a Birds house last night does not qualify you. You don't seem to get it. A few members of this forum have now heard with their own ears, evidence that contradicts the propaganda you spew. Why are you, and others like you, so afraid of individuals discussing

Erik Mandaville: I agree about some of the limitations of SET amplifiers. I have a few of them, and enjoy them tons. I also found that a little more horsepower is really a benefit for home theater sound tracks. I suspect part of that has to do with the fact that I've learned to enjoy some of the really amazing dynamics available with HT, and those huge shifts in contrast between dialogue and effects is something that, for me, is much improved with more power. This isn't to say that triode amps aren

"@Gary, I have no idea why vinyl playback should lead to different listening results than using CDs.....especially if you always use the same phono-/linestage and only swap power amps. Anyway, to my ears the source doesn't matter (in terms of evaluating the tone of each amp)......each amp has its own flavour.Wolfram Wolfram, I don't know why that was the case but the 4 or 5 of us in the room all heard the same thing. Maybe a really good vinyl rig brings out more of the amps character then a CD player

Anarchist: I wouldn't play "acoustic jazz" at high volumes either and bet 1/4 watt would be too loud for me if I had to listen to it for long. So much for musical tastes, huh? Coldplay is my mellow stuff. I keep trying to listen to jazz from time to time but Jesus, what torture. Anyway, I would like to hear your opinions Jazman on the different equipment you did hear. This is our first chance to hear some comparative reviews of VRD's vs. pCats vs. set vs. others. Take volume out of the equation and

lighting guy: I want to add to what Josh has said, and also to answer some of what's going on in the other SET/Moondog thread. THIS WAS NOT A GOOD, CRITICAL AMPS SHOOTOUT. Yes the Moondogs held their own, I don't want to take that away from Jazman. I also happen to like the sound of SET, I own a pair od 2a3s myself. I thought all of the amps sounded good, the pCATs and Moondogs especially. But having said that: A. The khorns were not in good corners, one not in a corner at all and the other obscured

garymd: Sorry if this has been covered already but were you guys listening to vinyl or CDs or both? We've had a couple amp shootouts at my place and for some reason VRDs always excel with vinyl while there wasn't a huge difference with CDs. Just curious. Edmond - I sure wish you lived closer. I'd love to hear your setup or just hang out and spin some vinyl! Gary, We did not have a working TT available, so it was CD's. They were played on Mark's Rega Apollo, which is better than the average CDP. And

lighting guy: Gary, that's precisely where I finally decided to put my VRDs in the system over my Wright 3.5s. It was in playing vinyl. I have a large room and felt I ran out of gas playing in the higher volumes. The Wrights, though sweeter sounding and more focused, were thinner sounding, particularly with my vinyl rig. I listen to a wide range of music including rock, and the VRDs just bring the power. I'm trying to get jazman to my place for a shootout. I KNOW his 'Dogs are better than my stock

mike stehr: I wouldn't be afraid to use those Electra-Print transformers. I still need to use my pair of James universal OPT's for a project. Some time ago I unhooked the Scholl OPT's I use with my 2A3 amp, and clip-leaded in the James ouput transformers. I listened to the James for a week or so, swapping taps, and even tried the different primary taps. The James OPT's sound nice in my amp. But I remember hooking back up the Scholl's and prefering them. Not quite as sweet with a bit more grunt I