by Shawn
(Rochester, NY, USA)
Bought a pair of Russian ГM-70 copper-plates on a whim 'cause I wanted an SE DHT that would drive my 90dB speakers and the Chinese 845's have been getting mixed reviews, so I gambles on the ГM-70 as it would allow more of my budget to go to the OPT (where it really matters). I figured I'd try the copper plates first as the graphite plates don't seem to be disappearing as quickly, so I could always try those later.
All I can say is WOW! I've been very impressed by 300B and 211 amps before, but until you get to hear SET amps on YOUR OWN SPEAKERS, you just don't know how much of the sound you heard was the amp and how much was the speakers. Let me tell you, even without $10K+ speakers, the difference is quite pronounced. The soundstage grew 20-30% in width, at LEAST that in depth, and probably MORE than that in height. More importantly, instruments and voices had palpable outlines that stayed glued to proper places within the image and didn't "wander off". Voices took on a realism I only imagined they could and there was some harmonic "bloom" but never harmonic "bloat". For the first time in my own living room, I could close my eyes and get that same "lack of awareness that I'm listening to speakers" that I've experienced before in some high-end rooms.
Ken Hi Shawn! Thanks for sharing! Shame on me that I've not experienced this tube before. Would you mind sharing some pictures of your tube amplifier? Did you DIY it yourself?
I had the same experience when I converted from SS, IDHT, and etc amplifiers to DH-SET. I've not turned back since then.
Enjoy! Look forward to hearing back from you.