I started out with Solid State Amplifiers with monitor speakers and a Sub Woofer. This was fine and dandy until an acquaintance in town offered me an audition with his Klipsch horns and 300B SET amps. After that experience, I had to have Horns and SET amps. They had the speed and dynamics with the Horns and the Delicate intimacy of Low powered Single Ended Triodes.

Then I got a pair of Klipsch Belles and a acquired a number of SET amplifiers. Mostly Built from Kits from Welborne. A 300B, a 2A3 and finally a 45 amp. It seemed like the less power the amplifier had, the more intimate the sound. The more the musicians were ‘In the Room’.

I finally re-designed my Basement for Proper corners to get a pair of Klipsch horns. By then I had already heard a pair, with the midrange horn upgraded to an Altec Multi-cell and huge Compression Driver. So, my Klipsch horns were immediately modified. I was driving them with the 45 amps, which were less than 2 watts per channel, and I was regularly running out of power, especially when friends were over.

This led me to Bi-amping. I got a pair of Hypex Amplifiers and now I had plenty of power to spare. A huge improvement! The Altec Drivers only went down to 500 Hz. and the Klipsh Bass bins upper limit was 400 Hz. so, I started looking for a Horn System that would go below 400 Hz.

This has led me to the Orphean System, which could be my last speaker. (Did I just say that? Ha!) I am still driving the Orphean horns mostly with a 45 Starchief amplifier from Welborne Labs. I also use a 2A3 Welborne and 300B Welborne amp occasionally.

I use the Hypex Plate amplifers on the Klipsch Bass Bins. I drive the SET amplifiers and Hypex Amplifers with a Welborne Reveille 6SN7 tube Pre-amp. I’ve got them blended perfectly to my ears. I mostly listen to streamed music from the Internet and my Music Library. I have not loaded a CD in years!