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Are there really a bad misfits in the hifijungle out there

I was sitting in a hifishop. Talking to different people, and we was discussing Sonus Faber IL Cremonese loudspeakers, and amps. 
But we could not find one amp that did not go well with this loudspeaker. And we  was talking about Pass Labs, Accuphase, McIntosh and Acoustic Research. But we was all agreed on one thing. There is no amp if it has enough power that cant be placed together with the Sonus Faber.
But we could not agree on what amp that was the best for the IL Cremonese. Me myself love the Pass, because i thing that it has the best open and rythmic sound of these 3 amps, But whayt about you good people. Is there really in the modern world of hifi, a really bad combination ?
128x128heidrun
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
So you consider Thiels and Apogees monsters, Erik? Feed them properly and behold the magic...

The impedance curves are designed not to be deliberately/unnecessarily difficult, but to deliver the sound character, and especially the bass response, that the designer intended. 

Dave
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Tube amps with output impedance of greater than 1 ohm are to be avoided! The June Stereopile has a review and test of the Rogers SE El34/KT88 integrated tube amp. Output impedance in the range of 6 to 8 ohms! Terrible! And distortion of 3% at 6 watts! $4K list price! If a SS amp measured so bad it wouldn't go into production! Such an amp will act as a tone control as it tracks the varying impedance of the typical speaker. The reviewer (HR) likes it!
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
I own three SE tube amps: a 2A3, a 45 and a 6BG6. Of all my speakers only the Heresy's are a good match (99db sensitivity). My PP tube amps (ST70, Dyna MkIII, Heath W5, D75 ... ) are far more practical and useful with most of my speakers!
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
And my Golden Tube PSE with its 3 6L6's per channel (18 watts) is also a better design than a SE amp.
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Heidrun 9-1-2018

Not easy that twoleftears.Look at the McIntosh C-52 Pre. That one has on balanced output impedance 200 Ohms.
And if you match it with the Manley snapper monoblocks, that i think is a lovely mix. Then the Snappers have on the XLR 15 kOhms input impedance.
And i cant read the what the heck 15 kOhm is. But it sound a long way from 200 Ohms

Heidrun, twoleftears did not say that the two impedances should be equal, which is how you appear to be interpreting his post. He said that they should be "simpatico," meaning that they should be compatible.

In the case of a line-level analog interconnect, if the output impedance of the component providing the signal is equal to the input impedance of the component receiving the signal (which would be an unusual situation) the results will almost always be very poor. But 200 ohms driving 15K (15,000) ohms will almost always be fine.

For further elaboration, see my post in this thread.

Digital interconnections, btw, are a different story. In that situation the two impedances should be, and usually will be, essentially equal.

Regards,
-- Al
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