THE AMX 300B SET AND THE FOSTEX FE207E
when i got back into the audio hobby recently, i had a fixation on the 300B tube and single-ended triodes.
i had to have a 300B tube amp running on an SET circuit.
that was the goal and so, searching for amps locally and on the internet, i finally set my sights on the AMX 300B SET amp. it has clean-power circuitry like the Cayins (try doing an A-B comparison with the Cayin MT-12 12watter and the Yaqin MC-10L 52watter and you'll know what i mean), the price Andrew Sevilla let go of it for beat the Cayins (i almost went for the AT-50T, same price but is a push-pull running on EL34s).
and so it was, i had my clean-power 300B SET giving off 10 WATTS! ok anong speakers ang pwede dito?
i had no prepared budget for speakers and, searching for high-efficiency speakers on the internet (and on pdvd) could be quite discouraging. discouraging because of the prices actually.
GOING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE:
-i tried the JB3 on the 300B and, well it sounded great at low listening levels but as stated earlier, the "garggling" would start when it got a bit louder.
-i matched it with my Kenwood LS-P9200, but of course, it could only go up to a certain level, and being a 7-driver system with crossover, it was not the FR SQ i was looking for. don't get me wrong on this one, the Kenwood is great for partying, DJing at home, concerts, etc., but i had different musical genres in mind for the 300B.
-Kenwood LS-P9200 specs: around 92-94db efficient (based on internet research), very low to 400 watts max, 10" sub, 5.5" mid, 3x 1" dome tweeters and 2x ribbon tweeters. these are very easy to drive, they can be run by the Dared MP5.
TSAMBA:
-i chanced upon a pair of fostex fe207e in pdvd, 97db and the clincher was that it already came in a 1.6 meter high double bass horn cabinet. the post lasted about 30 minutes before i closed the deal, hehe.
PROBLEMS:
-the 300B and Fostex, being such an efficient pair, well... the volume knob starts zero at 45 degrees from the south, that's the 7:30 position. on quiet nights, which is every night where i now live, 8:00 position is already moderate listening level, 8:30 is average listening level and can be heard thoughout half the house (old house with mostly wood), 9:00 is already rocking out by one's self, and to date i have not really breached 10:00 o'clock.
-something i learned about the fostex, it does not like being played softly.
lately, the problem got a little worse when i installed a DIY speaker cable... i got (freebie) 6-strand solid copper totalling 10awg wire, banana terminated, made into a 7 meter pair. there was a considerable improvement over the 16awg hardware-bought wire that was previously installed. i could not get branded wires for this even if they were affordable since my wires have to span at least 6 meters.
all in all, these are quite good problems to have.
