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Recommendation for higher power tube amp

AudiogoNers - I am interested in trying more tube power with my Thiel CS2.3s, which are hard to drive (~3 ohm load over 100Hz), budget is ~$3000-3500, used is fine as long as reliability is not a big risk, what would you recommend?

Currently running a BAT VK-55 and love the sound of tubes with these speakers, first thought was to get a second VK-55 and run them in mono, but realizing there are several other potential contenders in this price range, including Sonic Frontiers Power 2, Music Reference RM-200, a few VTL models, Antique Sound Labs Hurricane, Jolida Fusion, Manley Snappers, and more ARCs then you can shake a stick at, I thought I'd post the question.

128x128thosb
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,772 posts
 
Efficient speakers MAY help, but an efficient speaker may introduce a difficult load for that particular amp. The crossovers or some other feature may confuse the amp.
IME this is an *extreme* rarity. Usually efficient speakers are a much easier load; in fact I've never seen an efficient speaker that was harder to drive. FWIW most speakers of higher efficiency don't have weird phase angles; that is more commonly seen in lower efficiency speakers. So the crossover comment seems right out.
Wouldn't using a pair of Zero Autoformers help with the low impedance issue?
No. If anything, the terrible inefficiency of these speakers is more of an issue than the impedance, although the impedance isn't helping.


thosb's avatar
thosb OP
204 posts
 
I have thought about using a sub fed from pre-pro, that could be another potential path, any recommendations?  Is it worth it to go the whole enchillada room correction route with something like the DSPeaker anti-mode 2.0 or similar,or is any preamp with dual outputs ok (already have a sub).
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,772 posts
 
You have to check the input impedance of the sub in parallel with your amps and then see if the preamp is OK with that.
thosb's avatar
thosb OP
204 posts
 
Yeah and the more I think about it, if adding power is not going to significantly change SQ, why would offloading the bass to a sub do much either?
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,772 posts
 
If the amp that drives the Theil no longer has to make power for the bass, there will be more power for everything else.
IME this is a really tricky way to go since active electronic crossover (which is what you need to see to it that your amp for the Theils does not have to deal with bass) are another block in the signal chain and so some immediacy is lost.
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