Audio Research and Martin Logan Montis

I remember going to a demo that was showcasing top end Martin Logans with Bryston (solid state) vs the same Martin Logans with Jadis (tube) equipment. The Bryston gear was good no doubt, but the Jadis was magical.

I would be wary of any tube amp with these speakers to make them perform at their absolute best.
As at 4khz they give a nasty 3ohms and -55 degree phase angle. Which would be more like a 1-2ohm load as seen by the amp.

An amp that "almost" doubles it's wattage for each halving of load impedance down to 2ohm would be the amp to look for.
EG:
8ohms - 100watt
4ohms - 200watt
2ohms - 400watt

http://www.stereophile.com/content/martinlogan-montis-loudspeaker-measurements

Cheers george

"03-02-15: Georgelofi

I would be wary of any tube amp with these speakers to make them perform at their absolute best.
As at 4khz they give a nasty 3ohms and -55 degree phase angle. Which would be more like a 1-2ohm load as seen by the amp."

Shouldn't be a problem regardless of what the specs are. I drove my SL-3's with my VAC amp that puts out 32watts/channel.

Also, if you'll remember back when these speakers were current, Stereophile put together a recommended system with the ML Aerius powered by an ARC VT-50. The Aerius was a little easier to drive than the SL-3, but still, they weren't too far off. And the VT-50 had half the power of the 100.

Zd542

The Montis is a harder load at 4khz. than most other ML's
I'm not saying good tube amps won't drive them Zd, and they may sound very good. But if you want to get 100% drive capability and sound out of them then tubes will struggle a little at the presence region of 4khz as I outlined above.

Frequency (Hz)
Octave
Description
2048hz to 8192hz 8th to 9th octave. Gives presence to speech/music, where labial and fricative sounds lie.

Cheers George

I had spires driven with 80 watts tube power with no control issues whatsoever. The montis should be easier to drive than the spires