Dennis got his first well known YouTuber review—and that too on his 300b SET amp:

https://youtu.be/l-lRvZVyZ0o

Yea, the way it works it that you buy it and that begins the development process (it takes about 2 weeks) with pictures galore and he listens/burns it in for about 48 hours in his rig before shipping.  Once he’s done with the build/shipping, he will throw another listing on (but not necessarily the same amp type). He cycles between the 300b, the Firebottle KT-88 SEP (the one I have), and others.

Kahuna Jack

Sigh…it’s going to painful, but no.  I intend to sell it either to cover (partially) the cost of the Sarah or the acquisition of WE 300b tubes.  I rather it be someone’s main amp and get the love and attention it deserves.

I'm not a video guy. I found this, mentions Decware.

https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2022/10/22/a-lifetime-amp-the-inspire-300b-v-by-d...

You’re welcome Brad. It’s hard to predict with Dennis, considering the one off (and one man) nature of Dennis’ work but I will try and contact him tomorrow to gauge whether he would be amenable to selling it without the tubes. I will also message one of his par-time techs who helps him occasionally to see what the deal is.

inexpensive yes, especially in light of Steve's projected price of $5K for Sarah. No idea which tubes he intends to be stock.

I got the Aric 300b last April along with the WE tubes. I am very pleased with the sound. It's all I hoped it would be plus some.
I still have a se84ufo2 in a smaller room. Love em both.

My buddy is going for Sarah and he has an MK3. So, between those 2, my incoming Aric 300b and an order slated for next fall, I will have been able to listen to a few nice systems. Can’t wait to compare the 2 300’s. Fun times ahead!😀

that Aric Kimmel amp.... a quad of 300b's + separate power supply ?? hard to imagine that NOT being a "game over" amp for even the pickiest listener.

just a few dreams away  8-)

I've had trouble watching Steve Huff's audiophile channel ever since finding out about his main channel https://www.youtube.com/c/huffparanormal. Ouch, 1.7M subscribers ... funds his non-ethereal hobbies.

I had no idea about his paranormal youtube channel, and it's large following. Wow. That's a lot to take in.

ill stick with watching Ghost Whisperer reruns : )  seen every episode at least 7 + times ; )

Wow, had no idea he was running a parallel paranormal YT channel.  You’d think it would pop up in my YT feed considering how regularly I watch his audio reviews.

In the meantime, I’ve also reached out to one of Dennis’ techs to find out about whether he would sell the amp without the WE tubes.

Mr. Kamran, let me know when you get your Sarah & want to move on from the Firebottle KT-88. I’m sure a lot of people would like to give it a safe forever home.

Peace out, Ralph

Hot on the heels of a favorable YT review, Dennis is experimenting with a 300b Parallel Single Ended amp with two WE 300b tubes per channel!  No pricing yet, but just the cost of tubes (without taking in to consideration the rectifier and driver tubes) is going to be $3K.

I think in this hobby a form of mental conditioning is always active. In past I would never even consider spending $1500 for a duet of power tubes but giving it some thought.... if its the last pair of tubes I will ever need or want in my amp? It almost turns into a "bargain" and a miracle that the WE300b is even in current production at all.

If for some reason current WE300b production would cease ? can you imagine how crazy the secondary market price on them would get??

There are trade offs to all the options.

No tubes included. Some people will be upset that they need to buy tubes separately. For Dennis, If someone buys some junk tubes that are noisy or bad then they are contacting him to get it fixed and going online to say how Dennis sold a faulty amp.

Sell with cheap tubes. Some people will complain that they are not going to use the supplied tubes because they want top of the line.

Sell with top of the line tubes. Some people will complain that they don't want to spend the money on the top of the line.

I would personally want option 1 with no tubes.

I don't fault Mr. Had for how he operates, If I was in his position I most likely would go the same route.

I have no skin in this game as with or without tubes, this amp and the Sarah are above my budget. Having said that, I agree that $4k with WE tubes sounds like a deal to me. In comparison, the Sarah with the same tubes would cost more than 1.5x as much. I am assuming there will be sonic and build differences between the two, but both will be hand built, point by point, etc….

I can certainly understand wanting to save the money on the tubes as a consumer, but I also understand DH’s priority of making sure customers are satisfied with the final product. His complete price seems in line with other manufacturers that include lesser tubes, which benefits the customer. If I were in the market for a 300b amp, this would almost certainly be the one.

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Yes it looks like that’s his portal for new sales.

I would keep an eye on the used market, HiFishark.com is a good tool for that purpose.

Brad

I haven’t used HiFiShark before but I’ll keep my eyes on it. Thanks.

In an ideal world, there is an option to purchase that amp with or without tubes.  However, it doesn’t always work that way in reality.  Dennis, unlike Decware, is the show of a one man army, retired, and does this on his terms.  With over three decades of experience building amps (estimating here), he has his preferences and given his lack of resources, his limitations.  Bundling the amp with tubes that he loves, is his business decision.  Some people will find that compelling and their dollars will validate his call.  In case his decision is met with subdued interest, I reckon he will just decide to stick with amps that have good market acceptance and price to performance ratio.  My 2 cents.

There was a question about his listing regimen.  Yes, he only sells through eBay since he doesn’t have the time or resources to manage a website. He was trying to do something on AudioAficianado, but note sure how well that was received.  His call sign on eBay is radioman731.  You can either setup an alert on eBay or use a third party site such as www.automatedsearches.com to setup an alert (the latter I hear is more useful, though I haven’t used it personally).  

Hope this helps.

Ok—-Dennis and his friends had an amp shootout with this new 300B PSE.  11 of Dennis’ various amps including his regular 300b. Speakers were OB, but not using Lii Audio drivers from what I can tell. The 300b PSE was the star of the show.  Another surprise was the reveal of his most inexpensive amp (that wasn’t on my radar).  According to his tech, the PSE just blew away every other amp Dennis has built to date.  Here’s a telling quote:

——————————————————————————————————————-
Dennis says this amp is the best one ever to play in the shop, and I'd have to agree with him. It literally blew everything else away. In it's current configuration it's putting out somewhere around 12 WPC. However, that number can't convey the incredible deep bass, the rich tones, and the sweet syrupy highs. The old dogma is that triodes are great for jazz, female vocals, etc, but don't have the oomph to handle rock and roll.

WRONG....

The amount of bass coming out of this amp and the Inspire speakers is nothing short of amazing. Typically they have not been as dynamic as the big shop prototypes, but with the extras power and dynamic range of the 300B PSE, they really open up and come alive. What's really amazing is that all that bass is coming from an open baffle design. We will be continuing to make the Inspire speakers as a custom order, and we be able to ship them in the near future.

Also spotted for the first time was the Kleen Sweep amp, 6-7 WPC of inexpensive Inspire power. This is a very...ahem...clean listenable amp with a bright upper end. Dennis is going to offer this one as his affordable, entry level offering into the Inspire line.

Dennis will be asking a mere $1500 for this one

————————————————————————————————————-

And yes, the price of the 300b PSE was also revealed.  Wait for it…. $8500

[url] Untitled by analog addict, on Flickr[/url]

Knowing what a Dennis Had Inspire amp sounds like. And how a 300B tube amp sounds, let alone one with 4 WE300Bs. Makes me want to see if I can get one before the estimated 3 year wait on the Sarah.

Peace out, Ralph

I have been messaging Dennis the past few days & this morning he told me he put up an add for me on eBay. I did the search for the add but was too late I guess. Did someone on here jump on it before me even though Dennis gave me a heads up? Dennis replied “Heavens I think so, I’ll do another build for you, give me a half hour to post it up. Needless to say the estimated arrival date is 1-18-22. That’s a bit different than my wait for a Sarah. When my wife asks about the Decware 300B amp, I tell her “it’s an abstract concept involving uncertainty & the future.” Anyway, in a few months I’ll post my thoughts on the Inspire 300PSE.

In the meantime, give that boy a 6 string steel guitar, Ralph

+1 here with Kamran!

Really looking forward to your experiences with your new 300B  👍💥💥👍
Congratulations, Ralph!

Brad

I just checked & mine is listed as #2 according to the add. So some sniper snagged the first production model before I could respond to Mr. Had’s message. Or so I think. But as my father would say to me” If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.”
 Yaba daba do, Ralph

It looks like the add for the 2nd 300PSE build of 2023 is still active. With 2 more in line after this one, it seems there are amps to be “Had”.

With four WE 300's I would be content to just plug and play. Maybe swap an input tube or two.

$3k+ for a quad of WE 300B’s. WTF. LoL

Had, big smiles or not, can kiss my lily white azz.

Brad

Check out Aric audio. I have his 300 and love it.

Showme, why do you think it’s unlikely to buy off eBay? Another Decware member placed his order a month back (though his was for the PSE vs. the regular 300b).  You just need to set notifications to get alerted when the listing goes up and or inquire through the Audio Aficianado thread, which is monitored by Dennis and his part-time technicians.

Kamran

Hey Showme,

First off……..do you live in the Show Me state?

Secondly, I’ve owned a bunch of Had designed products over the past 30 plus years and never heard one I didn’t love. I bought a brand new custom built, fully upgraded, Cary 300SEI a year and a half ago, and it’s my favorite amp of all time.  You are probably aware that the 300SEI has been in continuous production for around 30 years and is now in it’s 6th edition.  If you buy one the way mine is set up, the Cary Direct price is $5,812.  With WE300B tubes and Cryotone 6SN7’s, that pushes the price up close to 8 grand.  BUT, Cary is running a great sale now, and you can have them build a standard 300SEI for a mere $3,800, and that includes all tubes, even a pair of Gold Lion 300B’s.  My build took less than one month.  You should check out their website and some of the recent reviews.

By the way, the only reason I am so out in the open about my Cary amp on Steve’s website is the Decware wait time on new builds.  I love my Decware gear, and at some point down the road I will likely buy a Sarah 300B for comparison purposes, but that won’t happen any time soon.  

Billy Wright, current owner of Cary Audio, and Had’s original business partner, seems like great guy.  He employs around 20 people, and like Steve and his Decware team, they bend over backwards to please their customers.  A look at Cary will be worth your time, even if you decide to go a different direction.

Great information guys. I’ll follow up on it. And yes I live in th showme state—-Missouri.

Quote:


Very nice, looking forward to how you think it compares with your UF025. Do you know what kind of tubes it comes with? From the pictures they look Russian.

It seems to me that in Steve Huff’s review of MoFi’s Source Point 10 speakers, he felt that the Dennis Had 300B amp didn’t have the beans to drive Andrew’s new design properly. I’m hoping to hear any forum member’s thoughts on driving this speaker with only 2 power tubes.



Not being driven to peak results with flea watt amps has been the only negative I’ve heard about these speakers. How about opinions on another YouTube darling, the CSS Audio 1TDx speaker?
     
       Merry Christmas, Ralph

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating.

Coincident amps are very highly rated and Israel is also highly respected though I am not sure that they are necessarily night and day better than Had’s design. I listened to a Coincident EL34 amp this past summer, and it was pretty good.

Blackbess: Didn’t you order the Parallel Single Ended 300b? That should give you plenty of headroom to drive the Mofi SourcePoint 10’s.

Speaking of highly rated 300b amps, Thomas really really digs this Wilsenton R300. It’s $1499. Unbelievably low price for a 300b and you can just buy it on Amazon. Normally, that might be a turn off, but I do trust Thomas’ opinions, so this seems like a compelling deal.

https://youtu.be/S6L_ajh72JY

As people mention Steve Huff & the Willsenton R300, here you have both :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOcgEOecjPo&t=4s

I mentioned the Source Point 10’s in this Huff review thread because in his latest post on the SP 10, he talked about using the Willy R300. The thing I find troubling about the Thomas & Stereo review of the Willy is he didn’t think rolling the 300B was very important. And he didn’t change the 6SL7. I’ll say the stock Willsenton branded tube’s envelopes are as thin as an incandescent light bulb, maybe thinner. I have tried current production 274B & 5AR4 rectifier tubes from Decware as well as NOS GE & Svetlana (my favorite) 5U4G’s. A Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SL7GT, a RCA 5691 & a MELZ 6N9S all NOS in the 6SL7 slot. Sylvania 6SN7GT flat plates, Marconi 6SN7GTB’s & Foton 6N8S’s as well as some new Wathen Cryo 6SN7’s (very nice) have been rolled in the past year. I’m still waiting on Wathen 300B’s ordered last month to compare with the WE’s coming with the PSE 300. In Jay’s Iyagi video he also talks about the Willy & the CSS speaker & was wondering if anyone had any insights personally on them or the SP 10’s in SE amp rigs. I have a pair of DNA2’s due sometime next year if things proceed as expected  & they’re pretty efficient. Sarah seems a distant dream. Thank you.

   A prosperous New Year to all, Ralph


picupload

If I wasn’t already in the queue for one I’d snap that one up. Oh, man I’ve got to wait another month.

Congrats! Not surprised at all given my experience with his non-300b amp as well as the observations of other folks who have listened to his 300b amp.

that's a lot of tubes...

Indeed!! I used to have a 10 tubes amp in the past and it’s a never again. tube are much more expensive than they were 20 years ago. It make tube rolling and replacement painfull.
That’s a reason why I bought the ufo. A se34 could be an option too.

maybe in a few years who knows..

That might be the first production model. I think mine is next in line.

I’m “patiently” waiting as Dennis puts it. When I ask if it’s “soup” yet, he texts that he will be starting on it next week, repeatedly. Because it’s built on a larger chassis than his usual he had to use a different supplier. Problems resulted from the small order. His regular guy does I think 20 or 30 at a time. This is as far as mine has progressed as of the 15th.


russian image host

Potentially my unfinished “long” chassis in a video about the new 14”x 11”x 9” Inspire speaker. It won’t be long until I find out for sure. If I’m lucky maybe I’ll be able to compare it to a Sarah (ooh, ooh, with the shining bell covers) by the end of 2024.





That’s pretty cool but personally I prefer count Blaa.
Cape Cod ships ain’t got no sails, Ralph

Btw, somebody posted the KT-88 model I have for sale on Facebook. It’s a great deal.


ma seekers hurdle crossword

I found this on the Facebook group "Audiophile Swap and Shop" page this morning:



John

This picture was recently posted by a character that goes by “Blackcat” of his PSE300B shortly after delivery.



Here’s mine Thursday,



And my latest update, Friday evening, sounding good, looking cool.


crowd pictures

Shipping Monday if all goes to plan.

I owned 1 of Dennis’s first produced inspire amps with kt88’s

Did a lot of tube rolling, rectifiers, input tubes, different kt88’s as well as power tubes with more and less power. That was one of the things I appreciated about the amp was its ability to have so many faces, voices and characteristics.

My best results were with kt-150’s. It became a ballsy beast and Dennis is a great person to work with.

Congrats on the new 300b blackbess and looking forward to your impressions. 300b’s are the power tubes I settled on a year ago and haven’t looked back.

Funny enuf, in the first picture just above that Blackbess posted from blackcat, the 2 big chrome polished monoblocks shown behind the Dennis had 300b are my coincident technology Frankenstein monos.  

You can tell by their size and mass, They are not toys, and have taken SET to a whole new level for me.

Thanks so much Blackbess. I am going to reach out directly to learn more and perhaps connect with black cat.  I have found after 40 years (as has my wife!!), it’s not a destination, it’s a journey, so love to learn about new stuff!

They must be truly something as I have never heard them, 4 of the 300b tubes would be glorious to hear.

and then of course, each person has to choose based on their overall system requirements, and the overall tonal direction they are searching for.

I have a friend in the high fi audio business so have been lucky enuf to audition and own a lot more audio equipment than I otherwise would have been able to, and have come to roost on a well implemented SET 300b.

Dennis’s amps, with 4 of them certainly fit that bill in spades and I hope I get a chance to hear them soon, or at least talk to others, who have direct experience with them and my coincident frankensteins. Also interested to know what version of frankensteins he has as there are 4 of different versions with ascending parts, wires, transformers, etc.

PS, writing the above reminded me of listening to a pair of CR research 300b’s in my friends basement so many years ago with a pair or Ruark Excaliburs.  It was truly glorious, and the best I had heard at the time, but so much more than I could afford!

No internet back in those days, we had a monthly catalogue subscription for “used high end audio equipment listings and phone numbers from across North America” that we could buy privately!

Communication speed has certainly changed, I sold two decware products and a pair of Grover cables in a couple days on this fine site this last week!

Wow! Beautiful amp! Dennis makes some fine stuff, no doubt about it. My first tube preamp/amp was the firebottle with KT-88s. I still use it but with an old Conrad Johnson PV-1 preamp instead of the Had preamp. It's just a magical combination for some reason. Anyway, keep us informed on the comparison when you receive your Sarah 300B. I'm waiting on one as well.

Mike

That amp has 4 rectifiers? Available in any other colors?

Congrats BlackBess—didn’t realize the thread had moved.  She’s a beauty!

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This is going to sound harsh: If one is dumb enough to buy an amp with 4 300B’s and the mfr absolutely requires WE then that person deserves the absurd unnecessary cost of ownership.

What is Had hiding that he won’t allow a different 300B other than WE????

I’d say you’ve been “Had”.

Brad

Amp looks cool, just curious if it came in other colors. Red is good.

Blue, black & mocha white are available.

Yesterday after listening to a live acoustic Rory Gallagher tune with the month old Wathen 300B’s, my wife commented that Rory sounded like he was right in front of us. This is something that we have both been fortunate enough to have experienced for ourselves. But memories are fleeting. This was after giving the 4 WE’s some exercise. Then she says “what about those Takatsuki tubes?” Whoa, maybe when the Sarah arrives. Now they’re going for $2500 a pair, wonder what the future holds in store.

Quote:


FWIW I have Takatsukies in my 300B amp and they are phenomenal. Not as warm as WE, but liquid, transparent, and more dynamic with plenty of bass and treble extension. Get them for $1700 here:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/takatsuki-new-vacuum-tubes.html

I highly recommend them.

" What is Had hiding? Why not offer the amp without tubes?"

is it in print someplace that only WE300b's can be used ? or just the fact that he builds and ships his amps with WE's .  I just tried researching but came up empty looking for a website.

Could be multiple reasons for the WE's .

A) he's madly in love with the sound of that tube in his amp
B) he's being supportive of a made in USA vacuum tube
C) he's supporting the fact that a legendary classic tube is still being created today
D) Its kind of like a proud stamp of excellence ... like THX was used
E) He'd rather not see customers toss just any junk tube in his builds

the list could go on and on........ 1 thing 100% positive is that the 300b world requires deep pockets , $500 pair , $3k pair , heck even $300 a pair is a lot of $$$ just to keep an amplifier running especially if you're replacing tubes frequently.

think about the cats popping hard coin for original vintage WE300b's ?? ouch

How about reason “f”. Someone has a whole mess of matched pairs & quads to go through.

Holy and wholy SHIT, dude.

Nice haul!

Yeah, ya wanna be friends?

Nope, just kidding. I have no friends. I keep it that way.



Kind of sparking a jealous nerve, though. Wow!

Wait a minute!  You bought that stack of WE tubes, BlackBess?

I figure that would keep my amp supplied for around 400 to 500 years!

I’m as curious as Tony.  What’s your plan for all those tubes?

That's a good pic of Mr. Had in his shop. He's a long time ham radio operator as well but I can't recall his call off hand.