Tekton Double Impacts

Mac: The power handling figure provided by Eric is not his preference; it is the result of the drivers chosen and his computation of those drivers sounding within the crossover design. It is clear that you like small tube amps and I have read and benefited from your perspective. But let's distinguish between facts and preference. Porscheracer is correct in referring to Physics and Eric's specifications are facts.

No disagreement from me at all Craig. I agreed that using large amps certainly isn't a bad thing and that I spent many years going that route......and enjoyed doing so and that my current preference are small tubes amps. The great thing about the DI's is that they sound great going either way. As we all know its the quality of watts that matters more than the quantity.......my budget doesn't allow me the luxury of a quality 400 watt tube amp :) That would be something to hear with the DI's! I've always been of the mind that you can't have too many watts, as long as they are quality watts and I still have trouble believing how good the MZ2 sounds driving the DI's. It's as much of an endorsement of the DI's as it is of the MZ2......the DI's will sound amazingly good with any type of quality amp. I agree that physics and facts reign supreme and am not ignoring them but in the end it all comes down to our personal preferences. Here's a toast to enjoying our systems no matter the configuration.......I'll be doing so delving into the Leonard Bernstein collection tonight!

What is the law of physics and "facts" that proclaim that the High power transistor amplifier will sound superior to the low power tube amplifier? There is no such law or fact. What is true is each genre of amplifier has its strengths and weaknesses and individual listeners ultimately choose what suits them best
Teajay clearly preferred  the 3 watt 2A3 SET Triode Labs over his Pass Labs XA 60.8 amplifier. I strongly suspect that Craig and Porscheracer would opt for the big Pass Labs. Each of these fine amplifiers have unique attributes to offer and will obviously attract different groups of listeners.

I would choose as Teajay, nothing to do with physics, rather plenty to do with how we hear and interact with music,. This isn’t a right or wrong choice, it is everything about how people listen and what they key in to,.
Charles

Craigl59 7-16-2017
There’s another way to look at power and the DIs. Eric specifies the power handling of the speakers at 400 watts. That’s what I use to judge how large an amplifier is required.

I would respectfully but emphatically disagree with the use of the word "required." A more appropriate interpretation, IMO, would be that the specification of "400 watt power handling" provides a rough ballpark indication of the maximum amplifier power capability that is recommended as being reasonable for use with this speaker.

Also, as Mac alluded to, for a given amplifier type and topology it can be expected that everything else being equal more amplifier watts = more amplifier $. Therefore for a given amplifier budget paying for watts that will not be utilized would in general mean that a higher percentage of that budget than necessary will go toward watts rather than sound quality.

One of the reasons I chose my Daedalus Ulysses speakers, which like the DI have a very benign impedance curve, fairly high sensitivity, and high power handling capability ("recommended power 5 to 300 watts, peak power 600 watts +") is that I wanted the majority of my amplifier dollars to go toward sound quality, rather than watts. And even though I frequently listen to well recorded minimally compressed classical symphonic recordings which reach brief dynamic peaks of close to 105 db at my listening position, I have been very happy with my 70 watt VAC Renaissance amplifier. And perhaps its 30 watt smaller brother would even have been suitable as well, but I wanted to be sure that the margin between necessary power and power capability would be comfortable while not being excessive.

Regards,
-- Al