Bladelius-Thor mk3/Leema-Tucana 2/Norma IPA-140?
Georgelofi-Thx for the response. What I was looking for was feedback from owners/dealers or anyone that has had a proper demo with these amps to describe the +/- of these amps. With my current speakers(Focus Audio FS8) the Leema Tucana 2(based on reviews) IMO would be best. The caveat is I plan on upgrading my speakers but I have not narrowed it down to 1 or 2 speakers yet, but currently leaning towards the ATC-SCM40v2. |
There are a lot of well wishers on this forum, that say this amp that amp is the best, without any regard to what kind of load the amp is seeing from the speaker. Ok, you need to look at graphs of both these speakers, impedance vs negative phase angle, which can half the impedance load again if at or below -35 degrees phase angle, even though it's not shown with just the impedance graph itself. Focus FS8 (bottom of page)http://www.soundstage.com/measurements/speakers/focus_fs8/ ATC SMC40 http://www.avmentor.net/reviews/lab/2014/atc_scm40/display/atc_scm40_impedance.jpg Both speakers have a hard load the Focus is hardest of the two. Both speakers need an amp that can do current well, of the three you mention I would go for the Leema Tucana as it's the only one that gives 2ohm wattage specs, the other don't which tells me their hiding something. As the Leema can do Output Power: 150W rms 8 Ohms/Ch Output Power: 290W rms 4 Ohms/Ch Output Power: 520W rms 2 Ohms/Ch which means it has good current drive. Cheers George |
Maybe I am overly optimistic but I doubt Bladelius or Norma are hiding a poor design. From my research all 3 amps are near SOTA for integrated amps. Norma claims there amps are designed to drive difficult speaker loads(ML-MBL-Magnepan). The Bladelius Thor mk3 has a 1800va toroidal transformer which should have the ability to handle a 2ohm dip in speaker impedance. My concern would be noise from such a large transformer. Both the Tucana 2 and the IPA-140 are true dual mono amps. This is all based from reviews but Norma is closest to tubes(3D) where the Bladelius is SS(detail) with the Leema its strength being PRAT. Speakers in consideration with best matching amp(based on reviews) ATC-SCM 40v2-Tucana 2 Elac-FS407-IPA-140 Focus Audio-FP88se-Tucana 2 Geithain ME150-IPA-140 KEF-205/2-Tucana 2 Marten-Django XL-Thor mk3 Martin Logan-Montis-IPA-140 Spendor-SP100R2-Thor mk3 |
It's would be very much in the others best interest to show the 2ohm figure, if it is a good spec, and almost doubles from 4. The only reason I can think of not showing a 2ohm spec for any expensive SS amp, would be, either it is Mosfet output or Class D. Both these give poor 2ohm specs when put up against their 8 and 4 ohm specs. Cheers George |
