driving Verity Audio Parsifal Ovations?

Thank-you for all your suggestions.

I have heard the Parsifal Ovations driven by the 20 wpc pure class A Luxman 550A integrated, and this sounded surprisingly wonderful. The 30 wpc big brother to that amp would be a better match (590Aii), and though I have not heard this combination, I would be willing to live with it. The Luxman 590Aii basically incorporates the Luxman M-600A amp, which is the baby brother of the M-800A.

The Luxman integrateds are very heavy, the 550 weighs 48 lbs, and the 590 weighs 66 lbs. This suggests that the transformers etc are much more massive than say the Bel Canto integrateds that all weigh-in at only 12 lbs.

I know that it is very simplistic to compare the weights of amplifiers, but surely there is some correlation between weight and performance? Do heavier amps with bigger power supplies/transformers not have more headroom than lighter amps with similar power ratings? How would you, for example, compare the 150 wpc Bel Canto integrated at 12 lbs to the 120 wpc Luxman 509u at 63 lbs? Is there a specification that better expresses what I am grasping at?

I am not trying to pick on Bel Canto integrateds as I am not familiar with them, I simply noted that they were pretty light compared to the Luxmans when I looked them up.

Is there more to weight than just over-engineering?

The Bel Canto integrated is a so-called Class D amp, so the weight comparison is not strictly valid.

Thanks - I was making the assumption that they were both class AB.

Toronto,

I was actually trying to provide you with a different data point. Basically, my experience with the P/Es suggest that 120 wpc of ss power should mate well - so, if you like a particular 120 wpc ss amp, you're probably good to go. OTOH, 30 wpc might -or might not - be an issue. So, if you're headed down this path, proceed with more caution.

Beyond that, I have no direct experience with the Luxman units. So take my comments as a FWIW.

Good Luck

Marty

Thanks.

The Luxman 509u puts out 120 wpc at 8 Ohms, doubling to 240 wpc at 4 Ohms. The Parsifals are relatively sensitive (89), are rated as 8 Ohm speakers with a minimum impedance of 4 Ohms, so the Luxman amp should be a good match.

I am less sure about the merits of 30 wpc class A power vs. 120 wpc class AB power.

Regards,

Mark