How important is the efficiency of a speaker to you?


I went to an audio meeting recently and heard a couple of good sounding speakers. These speakers were not inexpensive and were well built. Problem is that they also require a very large ss amp upstream to drive them. Something that can push a lot of current, which pretty much rules out most low-mid ( maybe even high) powered tube amps. When I mentioned this to the person doing the demo, i was basically belittled, as he felt that the efficiency of a speaker is pretty much irrelevant ( well he would, as he is trying to sell these speakers). The speaker line is fairly well known to drop down to a very low impedance level in the bass regions. This requires an amp that is going to be $$$, as it has to not be bothered by the lowest impedances.

Personally, if I cannot make a speaker work with most tube amps on the market, or am forced to dig deeply into the pocketbook to own a huge ss amp upstream, this is a MAJOR negative to me with regards to the speaker in question ( whichever speaker that may be). So much so, that I will not entertain this design, regardless of SQ.

Your thoughts?

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Showing 1 response by larryi

Jond,

I too generally prefer low-powered tube amps.  That makes high efficiency and easy load important qualities of a speaker.  AN-J’s are not very high in efficiency, but they are intended to be placed in the corner of a room, which boosts the level of bass and makes them effectively more efficient, and they present an easy load to the amplifier.  I heard crazy-good sound from AN-J SECs driven by a Kageki amp (parallel 2a3 SET amp); an incredibly good match even though the Kageki is something like a 6.5 wpc amp.

-j-