Posted by akhilesh [ 129.244.120.71 ] on July 13, 2004 at 09:16:54:
In Reply to: Re: SET 45 posted by manualblock on July 12, 2004 at 18:43:59:
HI John,
Mine uses the 417a input tube capactively coupled to a 45. I thnk Gordon Rankin (wavelength) uses the same circuit in his ultimate 45 amps.
The amp i got also has decent quality parts (not silver wired trannies or anything but good stuff). IN a nutshell: james output trannies (considered to be sleepers in the same league as the big boys like tamura) , stancor NOS power tranny (good ole usa), blackgate, panasonic & nichicon caps in the power, jupiter beeswax caps in the coupling, good quality resistors (mills, allen bradley & holco).
Why did i buy it?
Given my speakers (97 db & 104 db eff resp), i realized i was not really going over a watt or two. SO i looked around for the best first watt amp i could find (and afford). AS paul klipsch said, it's the first watt that counts, right? I read a lot about the resolving power of the 45, and this amp came up for sale online, so i bought it. It is very nice. I like the way the amp resolves the music. It's probably a little more distorted than, say, my zen amp, but i LIKE the way it distorts...in fact i can't even tell if it distorts. It just sounds more clear and realistic to me than any other amp i own.
Voices and instruments sound very well rendered.
It works very well with my homebrewed trusonic 80FR setup (wide range driver with tweeter at 15K and compensation network), and also wiith the klipschorns. But, yeah, it really needs at least 96 db speakers. ALso, my homebrewed setup was tuned for the zen amp (the compensation network i mean) which some people consider to be a bit weak in bass. WEll, all i can say is the 45 works very well with both my speaker pairs (to my ears). IF you have a nice set of horns or very efficient speakers, a 45 amp should work.
it may also work with a PURE single driver setup, but there may be problems...since most pure single driver setups are compromised in terms of frequency range. I think one would need a pretty decent horn loaded single driver setup to really appreciate a 45 amp. Another option (i think most people use it this way) is use it in a biamped setup.
SO, in a nutshell, you ar eright: i can see this amp being very sensitive to speakers. That's probably why they are cheaper than the 300Bs. One website to read may be Gordon Rankin's website at wavelength audio. He gives his opinions on the different tubes (300B versus 2a3 versus 45).
thanx
-akhilesh