1992 Stereophile on speaker placement should be required reading

Once again I yap about the benefit of Level Controls for ANY speaker in ANY room (L-Pads, not POTs)

from the article, emphasis mine"

"The first change was to use a more powerful amplifier. Better stability and control, as well as a superior overall tonal balance, was found using the much more powerful Krell KSA-250 (its output impedance is no slouch either, being 0.13 ohms at 20Hz). Connected to this powerhouse, the Type Bs were smoother, less hard, more open, and totally effortless. This is no surprise—the KSA-250 can put out close to 1000Wpc into the speaker’s impedance minima of 2.7 ohms (tweeter-level control set to maximum). As JA had mentioned to me, the KSA-250 imposes an "iron grip" on the Type B’s drivers, making it an excellent choice for this loudspeaker in my listening barn—er, room.

Second, a careful adjustment of the tweeter-level control greatly helped me adjust the tonal balance. I found that boosting the treble slightly by turning the level control from 12 to 2 o’clock allowed the speaker to "open up" without becoming shrill.

Third, I changed the speaker’s position, moving them 1’ farther out from the back wall. This move proved very important. Fourth, I found that the Type Bs produced the widest, deepest soundstage and best tonal balance when set up with bi-wired speaker cables."

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Today, inexpensive sound pressure meters combined with test cd with individual frequencies are easy for anyone to see what is actually happening: ANY SPEAKER IN ANY ROOM

Any variations from different speaker poisitioning/listener chair positioning can be seen with meter/test cd.

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Regarding item 1 above: more power in reserve:

My friend just bought a McIntosh MC7270, with BIG Meters! 270 wpc, then McIntosh Power Guard steps in to prevent clipping.

JSE Infinite Slope, Model 2,Speaker’s efficiency over 90, I cannot remember specifically).

We played something dynamic, loud, in large space:

power used: avg 2.7 watts; shoot up to 27 wpc frequently; occasionally shot up to 200 wpc used, and sometimes Power Guard was engaged indicating the full 270 wpc was exceeded.

He visited a big McIntosh dealer, they had a pair of Mono Blocks, 2000 wpc driving very tall McIntosh speakers. Meters indicated avg 20 wpc, occasional spikes.

Happily my 16 ohm horn speakers are very efficient, sensitivity definitely over 100, perhaps 103+. I used 30 wpc tubes for many years (without meters). Now 45 wpc. I feel better having more in reserve, but that’s the most heat I want, everything is a balanced decision.

I do not understand thinking low power, i,e, 8 wpc is a good idea, unless small room, only low volume listening because dynamic peaks do need instantaneous reserves, relative to volume desired.

Tone controls, good ones, are the highest value/dollar feature of any stereo. Not all are perfectly transparent but we are much better off now than we were decades ago. That audiophiles consistently ignore them and instead pick the most exotic and expensive, low return solutions instead drives me a little bonkers.

So many will swap out speakers and cables forever instead of turning the treble up/down a notch.  😁

My comment about not understanding using 8wpc tube amps is all about listening at ’normal’ or nearly concert level volumes in main systems/larger rooms.

i.e. I use Luxman 10 wpc to drive AR-2ax, sensitivity 91 in my small office. Luxman says 10wpc is conservative, and I get ’normal’ volume, certainly not concert level with them.

I heard a friends 8 wpc in my main system. He plays it in his smaller space, closer to the speakers at lower volumes in his space. sounded very nice with my very efficient horns, but occasionally on very familiar music, sounded ’thinner’ than I remember my 30 wpc, and current 45 wpc.

His amp is in for repair, I loaned him my Fisher 500C, around 30-35 wpc using 7591’s. He is enjoying listening at more ’realistic’ volumes, perhaps he will move up in power someday.

@erik_squires @elliottbnewcombjr  Agree, yes this should be required reading and tonal controls can help in a large acoustically challenged room.  I have a Tube integrated that has tone controls and do use them often, I also have a small listening room that is treated. 

I've yapped before about the benefits of a balance control, and the true advantage of remote balance for certain tracks that benefit a lot from a small tweak of balance.

Also, a weak tube, a less than great connection: you can use balance to continue to listen, and get to/find/correct the problem's source at a later time.

The old jacks on my vintage McIntosh mx110z Tube tuner/preamp turned out to be random culprits. Solved when Audio Classics replaced all the jacks with new gold plated ones.