mo' better bass: any substitute for watts?

Hi Bob, If you've not looked at
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
maybe now would be a good time.

Of course it is quite true that if you make 100 watts into a given impedance, it doesn't matter what made the power, the current and voltage will be the same.

Where things get interesting is when you have an amplifier that makes constant power, as opposed to constant voltage. What happens here is that as the load varies, the current and voltage both change with it to that effect. This is what I was referring to in my posts above.

It is **not** true that all speakers are "voltage" driven, in fact before the Voltage Paradigm was developed, tubes (and often zero feedback tubes) were the only game in town. Designers had to accommodate constant power so to get flat response; they had to be a little more careful.

Some examples of where constant voltage is not so helpful:
ESLs- Constant Voltage amplifiers have trouble making bass while too bright for comfortable listening due to the impedance curves typical of ESLs: high impedance in the bass, almost none in the highs. You need constant power to make that sound right.

Full-range drivers/horns- Most high efficiency speakers have tighter voice coil gaps (hence their cost) which creates higher reactivity. The reverse EMF thus generated can wreck havoc upon an amplifier with lots of negative feedback. The result is excess harshness (ringing) at high frequencies; the main source of many listeners opinion that horns are brash, honky and the like.

Its not difficult to choose a speaker for such an amplifier with a high output impedance (also known as a 'current source' amplifier to use Voltage Paradigm vernacular). All you have to do is look at the intention of the designer. Some examples: Merlins, Sound Lab, most horns (except Avantgardes), Lowthers, Fostex, PHY and the like, The original AR-1, Audiokinesis, Coincident Technology, Rogers LS3/5A, headphones, Magnepan, Reference 3A Loudspeakers, to name a few.

If the impedance curve operates independently of resonance, you can count on the speaker being a Power Paradigm device rather than Voltage Paradigm. Nearly all planars are Power Paradigm devices. Of course, a smooth impedance curve makes the speaker available to both camps- Avalon is a good example of that.

The two paradigms are responsible for a lot of debate in audio- tubes vs transistors, objectivist vs subjectivist...
What is really going on is that the Power Paradigm nowadays operates around the idea of the rules of human hearing, where the Voltage Paradigm operates around the concept of bench measurement. I hope it is obvious that understanding the rules of these two paradigms creates also a means for using transistors in a musical way- Pass 1st Watt amps and Ridley Audio are good but rare examples.

I am of the opinion that when it is possible to quantify the right measurements on the bench, such as the amount of odd-ordered content generated with a dynamically changing waveform, then a new and encompassing paradigm will emerge. Until then, we are stuck with two schools in competition- and the continuing need to match equipment properly and audition it at home.

Atmasphere,

is it accurate to say that a higher current amp with wattage X will generally produce as good as or better bass than a lower current amp also of wattage X, depending on load, and all other factors aside?

In my case, I can vouch for the fact that a 100 w/ch Musical Fidelity A3CR (higher current) produced better bass at all comparable volumes than a 350 w/ch Carver m4.0t (lower current) with my notoriously power and current hungry Ohm Walsh 5s, which also have a reputation, similar to electrostats, as having a harder load to handle than many designs.

With my other speakers, Dynaudio Contour 1.4mkII, Triangle Titus Ohm Ls, and smaller Ohm Walshes, all of which I believe provide less difficult loads to drive, the difference in bass levels between the same two amps at same volume levels was not nearly as noticeable.

Atmaspere ;
One more answer , please , to Mapman's last response !

Thank you .

Mapman, no, however the match between the speaker and amplifier is paramount. If the speaker has a low impedance at low frequencies, you are going to have to provide the current that making power into that load demands by law (Ohm's Law- no pun intended). The Ohms were always a difficult load! As you have seen, with less difficult loads the requirement for high power at low impedance is less important.

The flip side of the coin has a question- why go where angels fear to tread? IOW **if** the best sound is your goal, it has been shown that higher impedances favor transistors as well as tubes. A transistor amp driving a 16 ohm speaker will sound better (smoother, more detailed, more impact) than it will driving 4 ohms, all other things being equal. So the argument of current, insofar as the goal of 'best sound' is concerned, would seem to be moot.

Atmaspere ;
In your statement above...

"If the speaker has a low impedance at low frequencies, you are going to have to provide the current that making power into that load demands by law (Ohm's Law- no pun intended)."

Is this opposed to providing voltage , which will also increase the power ?