Tannoy Kensington GR with 300B tube amp

[opt817]

First, I would like to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year!

I want to express my gratitude to the members of this forum for providing valuable information about the Radford STA25 Mk.4, which pairs beautifully with Tannoys.

Currently, I’m enjoying great music with my valve amplifier, but I have a question regarding pairing the Kensington GR speakers with a 300B amplifier.

There are three main options to consider:

1. Single-Ended Triode (SET): Producing around 7W per channel.
2. Parallel Single-Ended Triode (Parallel SET): Using 2x300B per channel and producing up to 14W.
3. Push-Pull (PP): Using 2x300B per channel and delivering over 20W of power.

Has anyone tried these combinations with satisfying results? Or would it be better to opt for a more powerful amplifier, such as one using KT88 or KT120 tubes?

[Swann36]

Happy New Year @opt817

Sorry I don’t have the knowledge to advise you but I’m sure other learned members will offer some constructive comments

[AD Audio]

IMO the only one of those that works satisfactorily is optional 3 and even that will lack bass

[Macca]

IMO the only one of those that works satisfactorily is optional 3 and even that will lack bass

I agree only option 3 would give acceptable results, although not sure why it would lack bass?

I'd keep the Radford, get a better cartridge instead.

[AD Audio]

Based on actual experience with WAD 300b push pull (the original stereo version). Switching in the admittedly limited amount of feedback didn't improve matters much

[JimR]

Back when I had Westminsters I tried several 300B SET amps but felt that none of them had the ‘welly’ to drive them effectively, even though they were 99dB efficient.

I ended up using an Almarro 318B and it sounded fantastic with acoustic music, but I still preferred a big tranny job for rock music.

Jim.

[hifinutt]

fantastic , i remember them Jim

[goraman]

I'm late to this party but a well incorporated subwoofer, carefully integrated will effectively solve your problem.
I have single ended 2A3 mono blocks driving very efficient speakers.
Adding a subwoofer at comming on at 50hz down did the trick.