May 29, 2024

S.E.T.

I have gone down another rabbit hole. I think it began with Huff’s review of Dennis Had’s Inspire 300B single ended triode amp. That video gives a pretty good introduction to these 300B tubes and the amps they drive. The 300Bs produce a maximum of 8 watts, but apparently sound pretty warm and magical—and the best, the Western Electric flavor—are even being made again. I have been enamored with low-power audio systems for a while: there even used to be a blog for a store in the San Francisco Bay Area that sold these types of systems. I wish I could remember the name, and a Google search did not help. I’m not sure any of them were 300B systems, but they touted the unique beauty and subtlety of low-powered amplification, high sensitivity, and synergistic systems. So, I started looking into it.

Next, I found this guy’s overview of S.E.T. monoblocks. He calls these class A amps the “holy grail” of audio, and does he have some examples. The more I looked, the more I realized that these might be too expensive and bespoke for me at present, especially when one of the best, the Decware Zen Sarah Amp, is not ridiculously expensive, but has at least a three-year waiting list—another kind of cost.

A large consideration in a system of this type is also speakers: they must be not only be sensitive (high-80s and up), but have a certain synergy with the amp and the rest of the system. As Huff explained, we only use 1–3 watts in our daily listening, but the amp should not struggle to drive the speakers. Also, certain types of music will be better suited for a S.E.T. system, like standard audiophile fair—80% of what I listen to. I also watched some videos about high-sensitivity speakers, like the Klipsch Heresy IVs—what a great name, and they are very cool-looking speakers. Who knew Klipsch actually made good stuff? (Don’t shoot me. I’m learning.) I always associated them with computer speakers for some reason. Huff loves his pair, and the Heresys generally get great reviews. They have a 99dB sensitivity rating and supposed sound pretty great with tube amps. My Sonus Faber Sonetto IIs have an 87dB sensitivity rating, so I’m not even sure they’d be suitable for a S.E.T. system.

So it was nice to get educated, but back to my original plan of purchasing a Heaven11 Billie. Wait a minute. What’s this? Willsenton makes an integrated S.E.T. amp: the R300. And my YouTube favs love it: Jay’s iyagi, HiFi Huff, A British Audiophile, and Thomas & Stereo. Based on these reviews, the R300 just might work with my Sonus Fabers (a dude on the Audiogon forums says his 86dB Sonus Faber Lumina II speakers are no trouble for the R300). And it’s $400 under the Billie. Hm.

Listening to Emily Remler’s Firefly this morning. Even through the Playbar/Sub, it sounds pretty nice.