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Why is an XA30.5 a bad match for Revel Ultima Salon II speakers?

I actually own Revel M106 speakers right now, but some day, I intend to replace them with full range speakers like the Wilson Sophia II or Revel Salon II.

People say you need a lot of power to drive the Salons. The M106 and Salon II have almost the same sensitivity, and the XA30.5 can play the M106 louder than I prefer to listen (FYI I have a Velodyne powered sub). I guess my ears are pretty sensitive to loud volumes.

Does having all the mass of driving full range woofers into the 20hz range increase or complicate the workload on the amp significantly?

What is it about these speakers and many others that would demand a larger amp even at moderate volumes? My XA30.5 is supposed to be good for about 190W into 4 ohms, but nobody, including Pass Labs, seems to recommend an amp of that size for the Revel Salon II.

If I were to buy the Salons but had no amp budget, would I be better off trading for a more powerful but somewhat lesser quality amp than the XA30.5 such as a Parasound?
sboje
stewart0722
184 posts
 
My bass desires are very well served by the 3.7s alone.........

It's a matter of placement......I go a little closer to the side walls and
about 18" from the front wall and the room is loaded very nicely
in the mid 30s hz range......

If I want more bass, I just need 20.7s.  Subwoofers do NOT integrate
with Magnepans, people just say they do to make themselves feel better about going down that road......I don't think that even Magnepan's own bass panels really integrate that well with the 3.7s at least by my standards....., that's based on me trying two of them I bought for an office system.......

Having said that, if you compared 3.7s with the Magnepan's of old in the lower regions, all of your concerns instantly disappear.......


bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
@bombaywalla , you said I "should look for a time-coherent speaker. [My] quest for another speaker will end. Don’t waste [my] time with these wicked phase angle, crazy impedance curve speakers. They’ll leave [me] wanting for better sonics....FWIW."

Gotcha.  I am aware of only 3 speaker brands that are purportedly time coherent; namely:  Vandies; Green Mountain Audio; and Thiels.  Am I missing something?   What brand did you have in mind? 
pani
1,218 posts
 
@bombaywalla , your calculations make perfect sense. I was just wondering if there will be any improvement if the OP uses 2 x XA30.5 in a biamp configuration ? I am not talking about bridging the amps to use as monoblocks but actually using proper biamping, whats your take ? Will the amps perform better, with more headroom ?
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Gotcha. I am aware of only 3 speaker brands that are purportedly time coherent; namely: Vandies; Green Mountain Audio; and Thiels. Am I missing something? What brand did you have in mind?
you're right - the 3 you cited are time-coherent.
additionally, older Quads, Sanders Sound Systems ESL Model 10 & Model  11, some older Martin Logans such as the CLX or CLZ or CLS (I'm forgetting the exact model number), Eminent Technology LFT-8 (I think this is the model number), Tannoy DMT xxx Mk2 series (I've the DMT10 Mk2 which is a flat 8 Ohms across the entire audio band & is being driven aplomb by my 1977 vintage Yamaha integrated amp. They don't have great WAF but they sound fantastic). 

bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
@bombaywalla , your calculations make perfect sense. I was just wondering if there will be any improvement if the OP uses 2 x XA30.5 in a biamp configuration ? I am not talking about bridging the amps to use as monoblocks but actually using proper biamping, whats your take ? Will the amps perform better, with more headroom ?
Hi Pani,
nah, biamping will still not do it for him. It does relieve the stress on the amp in that instead of 1 amp providing bass to 2 speakers, 1 amp provides bass to 1 speaker only. 
But, this is a class-A amp - it always runs 100% bias & it's well-known that class-A amps have zero headroom. That's just the physics of class-A topology. 
His XA30.5 will still be a 70-80W/ch into the low impedance with a little more current. It will still limit the peak SPLs. It will surely give him music but not what the Ultima Salon 2's are capable of....
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