Low power tube amp for Sonus Faber?

The Sonus Fabers are such a rich, warm speaker I’m not sure that they benefit from the overtones of a tube amp, at least mine, in my room did not.

So is this why the company that owns Sonus Faber also owns Audio Research and MacIntosh?

It seems the majority here agrees 30w is not ideal. So if that’s the case I might be able to get mastersound 845 evolution. It’s 55w per channel. Would this be better or I shouldn’t bother at all under 100w?

That’s not quite double the power- not quite 3 db,,, 100 watts would suit better. But here’s the thing about tube amplifier power- its always been expensive, and for that reason speakers with higher efficiency are recommended. The thing is, you don’t have to take a loss of either resolution or bandwidth in having a more efficient speaker! My speakers are 98 db, 16 ohms and go to 20Hz on the bottom and yet they are also one of the most resolving and natural sounding speakers I’ve heard.


IOW if you really are smitten with the Mastersound, get more efficient speakers.

According to a lengthy email exchange I had with Roger Sanders --over 40 yrs of ESL experience -- the jist of what he explained to me is that speakers with a 4 ohm rating will not actually perform at their state SPL range.    a 91 db rated speaker will be somewhere in the 80's.     The discussion I had revolved around a pair of Decware speakers rated at 94db..   Roger's calculation indicated that they were more like 86 db or something to that effect.   If Im not mistaken has to do also with not being 1 watt @ 1 meter.   Im sure someone here that posted remembers better than I.  

wolf

tell me more about these " drunken dance festivals "..... also a location would be helpful................and some dates......and times.......

According to a lengthy email exchange I had with Roger Sanders --over 40 yrs of ESL experience -- the jist of what he explained to me is that speakers with a 4 ohm rating will not actually perform at their state SPL range.   a 91 db rated speaker will be somewhere in the 80's.

Yes. 91 db and 4 ohms will be 3 db less, or 88 db. I mentioned this earlier:

The speaker efficiency is about 88 or 89 db 1 watt/1 meter; on paper the speaker is rated with the sensitivity spec of 91 db. But because its nominally 4 ohms, this means that the voltage into the speaker will be more than one volt; hence the lower efficiency.With tubes, the efficiency spec is a lot more useful!!

The Evolution 845 is the amplifier I was hoping to suggest and it looks like it is already on your radar.  The Compact 845 is an excellent amplifier, but might not be right for every situation.  In this case, I do think the Evolution 845 would be the top contender.  The price is much higher, but so is the performance.

Like Charles has hinted at, the transformers are massively beefed up in the Evolution 845, bringing the weight up from 75 lbs to 117 lbs.  I have had a few speakers in house where the Compact 845 was just not the right bill and for every one of those speakers, the Evolution 845 lit them up.  

The Evolution 845 is a statement piece that I have yet to find a poor match with.  I'm not saying they aren't out there, but they haven't presented themselves yet.  Even on Martin Logans, the amp has performed magnificently.