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Using tube amp with electrostatic speakers.

Moons ago I started similar discussions and thought I had been given enough good advice not to approach the subject again. Here goes anyway. I've used Martin Logan electrostats for well over 30 years with quite a few different amps but have recently switched to a tube amp and dynamic speakers with which I am very satisfied.  It consists of the Cary Rocket 88R amp and Serie Reference 3 speakers. 

My brother was visiting last week and was so impressed with the sound that he decided that he might want to try a tube amp also (probably the same one as mine).  However, he is using a pair of SL3's that I gave him years ago and I'm concerned primarily about the current requirements of the Martin Logans as well as other concerns that I'm not thinking of.  I don't want him spending money on something that may not bring him improved sound so would appreciate more advice to pass on to him.  He currently uses a Rogue Audio SS amp with his SL3 speakers and, to me, it sounds very good. 
jimbreit
emorrisiv
313 posts
 
I have had Acoustats since 1980. I used solid state for many years but a couple of years ago tried them with a friend's Dynaco mkiv tube amps. The transparency was like I had never heard before. Even with the 60 watt amp, I preferred it over any of the solid state amps I had used. I now have a pair of VTL classic 300 amps.
 The VTLs have tremendous power supplies and are a perfect match for the Acoustats. They now are capable of dynamics that i have never experienced before. At the same time a much lower sound floor with bass and transparency that solid state amps can't even come close to revealing.
always_looking
4 posts
 
coltrane1 wondered:

If I had a friend with a pair of SL3's I'd be wondering more about how much longer are those panels going to last, as that speaker went out of service in 2002?

Just wanted to say that I purchased my ML SL3s in 1995 and I just replaced the panels at the end of 2016.  The panels actually still produced sound but it was becoming more and more obvious that the panels were inefficient causing me to raise the volume which produced too much bass as compared to the sound level of the panels.  If you take care of them, they last a very long time. :)
nordicnorm
313 posts
 
I was running a 30W (class A) tube amp when I upgraded my speakers to Martin Logan Spires.

While I could get sound out of them, I couldn't really make them sing. And no, my days of listening to rock-concert level sound pressure values are long behind me.

I first upgraded to a 205 W pro amp (Soundcraftsmen PCR800) which resulted in an incredible improvement over the tube amp. I've since upgraded to a pair of Soundcraftsmen monoblocks that are capable of 900 W at 4 Ohms.

Is 900 W complete overkill? The extra power isn't about playing my system loud - it's about better instrument separation and definition at low volumes.

While there are tube amps out there that can efficiently drive ML's, they tend to be in the upper price range.

I find that the best combo for ML's is a tube preamp, coupled with solid state monoblocks.

YMMV. 
gwho
47 posts
 
I know this is an old thread but it has some very useful information.  I have a question from reading the thread that I hope someone could answer.  Assuming you have an electrostatic speaker that varies in impedance from 2 to 16 ohms (hypothetical 2 ohm hf 16 ohm lf) and you have a tube amplifier with 2, 4, and 8 ohm taps.  Are you better off setting the tube amplifier to the 2 ohm tap to drive the high frequency.  What would be the tradeoff in this scenario for the spectrum at much higher impedance.  Would there be an issue/tradeoff at low frequency (lf) if you used an autoformer and it boosted the impedance at low frequency much higher.

Regards,
Gary
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,861 posts
 
Normally you would use a higher tap. This is assuming the amplifier uses loop negative feedback, which most do.

The feedback will help the amp to boost its output into the lower impedance. Since there is almost nothing for power requirements, it should be able to do this easily. So its really whether you use the 4 or 8 ohm tap and I would start with the 8 ohm tap.
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