A match for 604?

[lhgin]

Hi guys,

Has anybody paired the 604 with flea power SETs like for example #45, 2A3, 10?

I've just finished building a parafeed #45. I still haven't finished building the 604 in 620 cabinet yet and I'm curious whether does the #45 have enough juice.

I've tried the #45 driving a pair of vintage Tannoy DCC 3839 with 95dB/w/m boxed efficiency and they sucked big time.

I hear no bass at all. The vocals and highs are no doubt GREAT though.

Please share you experience on the 416/604 with low power SET.

Thanks!

[selmerdave]

I have no way to test but theoretically I should be getting around 1.2 watts max sustained per side from my Zen Select into the 604E's, and for me it's wonderful. I suppose for some it wouldn't be enough but I certainly don't notice any kind of "thin" issues, there's plenty of rich bass along with everything else. Complex passages up to around 100 db are manageable, I have no complaints.

Dave

[homme_de_terre]

Well, I don't have any experience with SETs...yet. :-)
I guess it heavily depends on your musical preferences. I doubt even a rather efficient speaker like the 604 will reproduce a, say, Mahler symphony in a sufficient manner when fed with only 2 Watts max.
Yesterday night I listenend to the Carmina Burana with noone else but me in the house, so I cranked it up until I thought it was loud enough for my conveniece. Then I hooked up a volt meter and took some readings. The max reading was around 12V RMS.
So, feed the 604s around 18W and you're gonna feel the kettledrums in your belly.
It sure is a different case with chamber music.
Just give it a shot, you might end up considering 300Bs, 211s or even something like a Pass Zen amp though.

Manfred

[lhgin]

Hi SelmerDave & Homme,

Thank you for sharing this information with me.

I've read from SoundPractice that the 6B4G(3.5W) is great with the 604s. I've not heard anything about the 45s though.

The Zen that you mentioned is SE84C, right?

Rgds,
lhgin

[homme_de_terre]

Ihgin,

don't throw a surplus output transformer at me, but the Zen amp is a....solid state SE amp!
Take a look here: http://www.passdiy.com/
and also here: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forum....php?forumid=8

The marvellous thing about the 604 is, it sounds kind of good with any amp, due to its efficiency and its relatively flat impedance response around the crossover frenquency.
What could turn out to be necessary is to flatten out the 2nd impedance peak in the LF range.

Manfred

[homme_de_terre]

Dave,

now I've seen it, you had mentioned a "Zen" amp before I did! Seems to be an interesting amplifier, I've heard from a couple of people that the EL84 makes for an excellent power stage triode and you still can get them NOS without having to pay a fortune plus you don't have to invest too much into iron. Could you please post an URL to the forum you mentioned? In fact I have a couple of Telefunken EL84 stashed up and perhaps that would be a nice project to start exploring the SET world.

Currently I drive my 604s with a pretty nice Reu?enzehn PP amp (KT88 and double C core output transformers). It sounds way better than my old MOSFET mono amps.

Manfred

[lhgin]

Hi Manfred,

Output trans is not cheap, here, catch this! The power trans! Ha ha...

Thank you for your feedback and the links. Not that SS amps are **** but but I would prefer to stick to tube amps, just a personal preference.


Have you done anything to flatten the peak at 1.xkHz?

Hi Dave,

Yeah, I got hooked to SET since I first listened to it a few years back. I like the EL84 tube too. The first time I've listened to the 604, it was driven with a vintage EL84 amplifier at a dealer in Singapore. I got hooked and I paid immediately for the speakers and hauled the darn thing back to Malaysia!

Do post the links please! I'll be interested to have a look at another perspective of tube audio although I'm very happy with the #45 DHSET amp.

Thanks a lot guys!

[selmerdave]

Ighin,

The amp I'm referring to is the SE84CS (select version of the "original Zen"), and for Manfred it is a tube-rectified, stereo SET using an EL84 variant wired as a triode on each channel, made by Decware. Mine actually started out as the original Zen and I upgraded it, and for a total investment of less than $600 I can't believe what I've got. If you thought you were interested I'd go over to the forum over there and read what people's impressions are.

I do fine with Mahler cranked, 100db seems to be enough for me. SET is certainly about quality rather than quantity but for me the 604's with the Select gives me the combination of quality and quantity that I'm after.

Dave

[kestudio]

Hi Manfred!
What type of 604 do you use? I?ve got a pair of 604E and am still having the cabs (620/820)and XO (ML)in the pipeline.
I would like to change some experiences with you.
best, Klaus

[email protected]

[selmerdave]

Here you go guys,

www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi

These amps actually use a Svetlana SV83 power tube which is a variant of the EL84. For whatever reason with these amps, (without exception) nobody prefers an EL84 (NOS or otherwise) to the SV83, myself included. The 5U4 rectifier and 6922 input tube, now that's another story and rolling will make a big difference there. Anyway, not to plug it too much, but they're a really great company with the right motivations and excellent quality and service.

I just simplified my crossover for the 604's, another bonus of low-power amps, now the woofer is full-range and the tweeter has a 2nd order and 4db l-pad.

Dave