We had a design meeting yesterday. As usual this topic came up, as it has for 15 years. I noted that running multiple Paramounts with the secondaries wired in series sounds better than the other options available for that power level. As usual the idea is a very tough sell because it isn't they way everyone else does it and it costs money. My take on this that if you want our product you are probably looking for a certain kind of sound. I would like to deliver that, but when it comes down to it it seems that a lot of people really just want a lot of power for as little expenditure as possible. The single tube single ended options require high voltages that we will not incorporate into a kit. So multiple tubes seems to be the only way to get there. At the end of the discussion we had a vague proposal of doing perhaps parallel single ended using multiple triode wired EL34s. If we can come up with something that is reasonable in size and sonics we will do it. But if all we can make for what people are willing to spend is the same old push pull class AB stuff, I will probably remain resistant.
The other potential option is a stereo SE 300B power amp that could also be used as a series single ended monoblock - you build two for stereo, and each has around 16-18W output. This would pretty much guarantee the sound I would like to achieve, but it would be less efficient in terms of dollars per watt than the multiple EL34 idea.
