pangl

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $1050.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
At the same time I jumped onto the Welborne Lab bandwagon (by buying the Welborne Apollo monoblocks - see my other review), I also purchased a pair of Welborne Laurel 300B (original).

The differences between I and II are subtle, but what you should care most is the original model comes with the better sounding (and thus more expensive) Magnaquest trannies. For this reason alone, get the I if you could.

This pair of Laurel suffered the same fate as my Apollos: Assembly quality by the DIY owner. The original builder (different from the Apollo's) tried to get fancy and came up with all kind of level 1 mods. But seriously, if you are using low output SET amp (like this), your worst enemy is HUM. I do not see anything that would kill your patience quicker than hum.

One interesting experiment I did was to use the traditional 300B vs the Vaic 300VB (blue tubular 300B variant, not sure on the model and make, beg your pardon if I had it wrong). Many people I talked to like the variant better, but I beg to differ. Well, may be the hum thing just get me so down so bad, it doesn't matter.

Unlike the Apollo, I think the Welborne Laurel once could be purchased as factory assembled, which would be what I recommend (very hard to find, and would sell about $300 higher in used market).

I think at the same price, I'd get the Japanese made ICL Softtone 300B intergrated instead (super rare and hard to find anywhere). $850 would get you one (used to be sold new at $1250 plus shipping). The ICL sounds more halographic and engaging, even at the expense of output power (rated at 8wpc but really more sound like an 6wpc). The Welborne has bigger soundstage and sounds less recess, but it doesn't have the engaging quality as the ICL.

Trust me, however, the Welborne Laurel sound way better (even with its hum) vs any Chinese made SET wannabes.

Strengths:
Parts quality is amazing considering how much they sold it.

Weaknesses:
Assembly quality by DIY lovers. Get the original model, and try to get one assembled by factory. You won't go wrong with that.

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Welborne

Summary:
Color,texture,tone,and the ability to play TUNES.That to me is the function of a great amplifier.Imaging and soundstaging,dont have nearly as much to do with a great amp as tone and transfer function.And lets not forget rhythm and pace.This amp gets the IMPORTANT stuff correct.Piano sounds like piano....strings haunt you long after you leave the room.By the way this amp images exceptional ,and cast a very deep soundstge ,but what makes it magical is the other stuff.Of all the amps mentioned above this one is the most complete.Not as fast as the Fi,but I believe that has to do with it's direct coupled design.To be fair I'm talking about a Laurel tuned with Audionote resistors,and caps,as well as Blackgate caps throughout.I have owned all the amps above ,and in my system the Laurel is the most enjoyable...Hands Down.

Strengths:
See Review

Weaknesses:
I have not found any yet,other than SET's must be mated with reasonably efficient speakers.

Similar Products Used:
Cary 572,Cary 300b,Cary Super amp,Art Audio Concerto,Sun Audio 300B,Sun Audio 2A3,Fi 2A3,Jeff Korneff 45

Summary:
The Welborne Laurel 300B amps are outstanding products by an outstanding company. If you are intrigued by tubes in general and 300B's in particular, the Laurels should be on your short list for consideration.

Strengths:
I built a pair of the Welborne Labs Laurels around Christmas 1999. I have been listening to them for about two months, most recently with a Rega 3 turntable, CEC CD player/Assemblage 2.5 DAC, a Welborne Reveille linestage and old Infinity speakers (about 90 dB sensitivity).

The Laurels are single-ended zero-feedback amps designed around the 300B triode tube, which puts out 8 watts. The design and parts quality are first-rate. All wiring is point-to-point -- not a circuit board in sight. The instructions were excellent; the amps were a pleasure to build. Although I would not recommend them for the first-time kit builder (that nod would probably go to Assemblage), if you have even modest experience and don't rush you will wind up with a beautiful amp.

And the sound? Simply incredible, but first a few more preliminaries. First, power is simply not a concern. All the talk about "tube watts" somehow being different from "solid state watts" must be true. I may have to turn up the volume pot (well, stepped attenuator, actually) a few more clicks, but so what. I will never return to solid state. Second, the amps are dead quiet. When I first powered them up in my system, I was convinced I had done something wrong because, even putting my ear up to the speaker drivers, I could hear nothing. So much for tube rush. The same applies even though I am now using the amps with a tube preamp - nothing.

Perhaps the best adjective for the sound is "holographic". The 300B's, as Ron Welborne implements them, produce an intimacy that leaves me feeling that the performers are in the room. There is a glow to the sound that makes it more palpably real than the steely detail that solid state can produce. Nor is this to say that the amps lack detail. Far from it -- but I am hearing a balanced detail rather than simply isolated sounds.

The received wisdom that tubes cannot handle treble or bass is also misplaced. Female vocals -- from Rosenkavalier to Lakshmi Shankar -- are absolutely gorgeous, and because of the palpability of the speakers that I have (unsuccessfully) tried to describe, the thwack of a drum or the pluck of a bass is starting in its realism.

Finally, if you are not familiar with Welborne Labs, rest assured that it is a first-rate outfit. When a correspondent at audioasylum reported that a competitor had badmouthed Ron Welborne, perhaps a score of others, including competitors, leapt to his defense, praising his designs, his products and his service.

Weaknesses:
Although power is ample, 8 watts requires reasonably sensitive speakers with stable impedence.

Similar Products Used:
I have also built and live with 300B amps by Sonic Frontiers (Assemblage) and AudioNote. 300B's are everything they are cracked up to be. All of these products are first-rate, but the Laurels are jewels.