Gentlemen, I want to venture into the land of BIg Tube Amps---and have been looking/lurking around at 300b or 2A3 type tubed amp--any advice ---what ever I get will drive single frd speakers and some soon to be builtd horns (for my new FE168 sigmas) I have found some decent DIY and a killer used amp that was imported by Sophia for a while -----found a nice looking 2A3 making a whooping 3.5 Wpc which I dearly love ---guess query is how much diff is there for a beginner Jim
It is not an adversary relationship. The major difference in implementation is that a 300B will give you about three times the amount of max (practical, what-have-you) power out.
If I would characterize the 'sounds' of the devices according to my experience:
300B; romantic, lush. If a fault, histrionic.
2A3; clear, clean, tight. If a fault, dry.
But; it all depends. On the amp, the pre, the source, the speaks.
You said you have FE168Sigmas. Which ones; the new ones with the Escherian/Fullerian cone/surround/cap, or the older model with the exponential cone and whiz?
Besides the watts there is also an issue of filament volts with the 300B being 5 and the 2A3 being 2.5. I don't know if that is the reason but I have noticed more of a humm with no signal from 300Bs and a difference in 300Bs as well. My TJ mesh plates which are to my ears my best sounding 300Bs also have the most humm. I don't hear when music is playing, but between pieces you can hear it. I have not had a 2A3 amp in my system, but I have heard a number in audio meets, shows, showrooms, etc. I agree on the dry but with both tubes what you get out will depend a lot on the driver you use. I have a 6SL7 SRPP and what sounds best is RCA VT-229s which also have the least gain of the ones I tried, but by far the quietest soundstage.
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