You are looking at the new KTA STA3030 which is a 300B based, zero feedback, fulltriode tube amp designed by Kevin Kennedy. We are about to enter the production phase. The STA3030 will be on display at a major HiFi showin New York in April and reviewed by critics not long after that. The currently projected MSRP will be $1800.
These are new in the box right off FEDEX to you with a 3 year manufacturers warranty onall parts except tubes.
The specs
| MODEL | STA3030 |
| OUTPUT POWER | 20WX2 |
| Freq Response at 1W | 10Hz-22000Hz +/- 1db |
| Freq Response at full power | 12Hz-21000Hz +/- 1db |
| S/N ratio | 81db (1.1mV) |
| Input Impedance | 68K |
| Output Impedence | 2,4,8 Ohm |
| Input Sensitivity | 1V |
| Fuse | 5A Slow-Blow |
| Dimensions | 475x335x230 in mm wxdxh |
| Weight | 29.5kg |
| Power requirements | 200W max |
Tube complement is (4) 300B, (2) 12AU7, (2) 12AX7, (1) 5AR4 We have decided to upgrade the 300B to Valve Arts at this point /1/28/00
Now let me tell you a little about my experience with the STA3030. I have had a first run production unit in my posession for about a week now. It is a very heavy unit with the 3 large transformers you can see in the pic. Thankfully, they are nicely arranged to make the unit well balanced for shipment and any placement issues you may have.
During setup, I did a close inspection of the internals and found that the unit is very well assembled with point-to-point wiring throughout. Check it out below.
After setup I started the warm up process by playing a reference cd for 20 hours or so before I began any critical listening. Even during that period I found that I noticed a very clean sound that I hadn't heard with 6550 based tube amps like my Dynaco MkIII which Kevin had upgraded.
Later, I matched the STA3030 with my Thiel 3.5s and found that they were a very goodmatch even though the power requirements are a minimum of 50 watts for those speakers.Tube watts are often under rated.
In response to inquiries...
The 300B employed are Valve Arts 300B, the other tubes are 5AR4 rectifier, 2 X12AU7/12BH7/6189 driver tubes and the input tubes are 12AX7A or 5751..
The amplifier can accept just about any variant of the 300B as long as the filamentsdraw 3.0A or less each.. Higher plate currents can also be accomodated if the 5AR4 is replaced with a 5U4GTB. Standing currents of up to 60mA per tube are accomodated. Coupling capacitors are Reliable PPFX, but RTX and Jensen are available as special order items..Resistors are metal film types, and are comparable in sound quality and performance to the Roederstein Resista..