Hello Srajan: I was pleased to see Tektron in your review queue. Like you explained there and also in your Thoress preview, having the right speakers is key to get the best from such amplifiers. Do you have further plans to return to reviewing SET amps? If so, may I suggest the 2A3 designs from Whammerdyne in the US? I've not heard them for myself but looking at their specs (zero noise, 150kHz bandwidth) and clever outboard output transformers, I would be surprised if they didn't deliver comparable to how you've lived now for years with fast transistor amps. Holger
In fact, I'm wide open to re-entering the world of very special valve amps. And you bring up an excellent point about my having veered deeply into solid-state amps of exploded bandwidth for the last few years. It's made me drift away from appreciating transformer-coupled valve amps that barely make it to 30kHz to sound clearly slower and more veiled by comparison. Vinnie claims 900kHz for his new DHT preamp which has me most curious. Your Whammerdyne recommendation fits the same bill. I in fact expressed interest to them not long ago after a request to post a news item but was told that they're a very small outfit and currently neither have 230V units nor traveling loaners in general. They sell what they make and don't really want more exposure to put pressure on their production schedule. Which I well appreciate. Finding one's ideal size for a business is key to quality of life and growing beyond that tends to eat into that quality. But if you have any other recommendations along those lines—what I recently told a friend I'd call "Bakoon type sound executed with tubes"—I'd be all ears. Truth told, my absence from the SET scene means I haven't paid attention for a while to what might be new and exciting there. So I really could use some help. Srajan
