In article , Keith G
scribeth thus

"Iain Churches" wrote


300B amps are very much preferred flavour at the moment. I
very much want to build a good SET one day. There are people on
this and other groups who have very good first hand experience, so
there is no need for me to try to re-invent the wheel.

(Sales line for an OK Chinese SET - 90% of the sonics for 10% of the
price of a true *quality* amplifier..??)

But it's the 10% which sets a good one apart:-)


As in all things - the very best costs a lot more money than the mundane!


Just been following the post mortem of a Chinese PP monobloc
The OPT was potted in a very nice stainless steel cube, which
when cut open, revealed much cat-litter filler and a miniscule
open frame transformer, the kind one used to see in cheap
radio-grams years ago.


The good thing with the Bez was that it had good, big frame trannies for all
to see. I would not bother to sport even what little money they cost to
investigate the latest wave of potted tranny/PCB triode amps form China.
Anyway - been there, done that and see below....



But, I must admit, the rest of the Chinky is very nice indeed.
Good point to point, and a high-quality stainless steel chassis.
(How do they do it for the money??) Cosmetically, it may
not be to the taste of people in ther Western world, but
that's not a major issue. There is room for a much bigger
mains transformer and OPT so these will be fitted. They
will probably turn this into a very good sounding
amplifier, still cheaper than one of the true *quality*
marques.


Yes, that was my reasoning from the outset - if swapping the trannies was
all it was going to take to make on OK (or even 'iffy') SET into a good 'un
it would still have been worthwhile!

Anyway, Iain, you can be the one to receive my pennant - I'm off now. I'm
finally fed up with seeing my efforts to keep a sickly newsgroup going being
twisted into some form of egoism!! (Seeing that surly little maggot
Plowman's remark in s.e.r. just now has convinced me that my time as an
active contributor to ukra is up.)

Add to that I'm done with 'audio' now - having taken it as far as I want to
(said so recently) and want to direct my activities elsewhere now. (Hoping
for better weather this year!)

So that's it! Ciao! :-)

Oi!, Stop copping the strop and get back in here before you loose your
nerve;!...






--
Tony Sayer