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If you love SET amplifiers, boy do I have speaker for you.

I have had in-house for the last six weeks a pair of speakers that I'm reviewing for hometheaterreview.com from NSMT Loudspeakers, located in North Carolina, that are a perfect match with SET amplifiers.  I love SET amps.  However, historically I'm not a fan of single driver designs (rolled off high-end/lack of bass) or horn designs (I find them to have coloration that annoys me after a short while) that are normally used with beautiful sounding SET "Flea Watt" amps.  I have reviewed both types of speakers and they were good, but not keepers for me because of the above stated reasons.

The NSMT Model 50 is a small very attractive floor-stander which has an sensitivity rating of 101 dB and never dips below 8 ohms.  It is a three driver MTM two way design that loads into a double transmission line and really reaches down to 35Hz to 20 kHz in my room.  This is the third speaker I have reviewed from NSMT, the other two were wonderful music makers, and shows what a talented designer that Erol Ricketts is in all his designs at applying his unique version of transmission line loading. 

Now, the Model 50 sounds terrific with high power SS or tube based amplification.  But what has been enchanting for me is when I drive it with either a SET 2A3 amplifier, around 3.5 watts, or my Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL as an integrated using the NOS 1940's Tung-Sol 6SN7 black glass oval plate tubes which produce only around 1 Watt.  With either amplifier this speaker completely disappears, the beautiful colors/timbres just float out and 3D chunky images of the players fill the soundstage.  However, because of the very high sensitivity of the Model 50 and its transmission line loading the foundation of the music, true deep bass, and overall dynamics/dB levels are hard to believe.

So, if you have or always wanted to try out a SET amplifier this speaker is a great choice.  The Model 50 retails for $1,800.00 a pair, so they are very affordable to team-up with your SET amplifier.  If you want a lot more details just go to NSMT-loudspeakers website.    
teajay
teajay OP
1,700 posts
 
Hey Guys,

I'm not an electric engineer so your belief that this speaker's spec of 101dB just can't be so I'm not going to challenge on theoretical grounds.  Why don't you contact Erol to discuss this with him.  

I'm driving this speaker either with 1 watt or 4 watt SET amplifiers with no difficulties regarding volume levels, bass extension, and overall dynamics.  I get easily over 100dB if I really want to listen that loud, even though I rarely push it to that volume level (sitting seven feet off the front of the speakers).  So, whatever Erol creatively did in his design to get an extremely high sensitivity obviously works beautifully.

I only post here on the GON when I find superlative products that offer "great bang for the buck" that I would want to own and use in my own system.  So, the short answer is no, even though no product is prefect.
vt4c
31 posts
 
Can those speakers be driven with my 96/32 DAC in my LG V20 cellphone?
😁
aricaudio's avatar
aricaudio
276 posts
 
@vt4c - Maybe! How many watts does it output into 8 ohms? ;-)
drbarney1's avatar
drbarney1
180 posts
 
If I had not fallen in live with the 833-A SET and Magnepan speakers I would want to try this design. The NSMT is a very attractive looking speaker, not only at modest price but ideal for inexpensive to build yourself small SET amps. They draw less current than my amplifiers do.
skiroe's avatar
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skiroe
131 posts
 
A few years back I had James Burgess build me a 2a3 amp .. To mention a few of the parts were the James transformers.. the bigger ones.. that are squarish in shape (better bass) --not the typical round ones that are often used which cost less. . Some high end silver and oil caps, ,etc. choked p.s. etc. My bill came to just under $2k. Some of you may have heard of Mr Burgess.. His creations come up infrequently. He was able to deliver the amp to me because he visits the bay area at times. However, I no longer have the amp as I sold it to lighten the load for a move I made out of the bay area. It simply should not of been sold especially considering how good the build was and how good it sounded. James is a jeweler at his day job and does this as well.. Oh, I almost forgot. Design was based on the Baby Ongaku.. I forget who designed that but the article of that amp is online. I forgot also James’s name.. Had to search through email. Bette Davis said getting old is not for sissies. I feel like a sissy more and more. lol. btw--I dont have James’s contact info any more because... no,, I might have his phone should anyone be interested. He’s in southern Cali and probably can be located online as well. btw--good for the poster who sussed out what drivers were used. Seas much better of course than some of this stuff that passes for drivers.  In addition -- I have quite a sensitivity to hum issues concerning tube amps..   Operational hum,,coming from the amp itself not the type of hum that can come through the speakers..    The operational hum when its there can happen for a number of reasons.  Almost every tube amp I have had both P/P and SET had issues with hum..  The Burgess 2A3 had no issues with hum..  and as for tube rush--the minimum if any at all.   That's quite a build! 
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