@essrand Thanks for providing the update. Assuming a listening distance of say 10 or 12 feet, and a medium sized room, and given that the speakers are not planars or line sources, and factoring in a few db of "room gain," according to my calculations the 8 watts that can be provided to each of the 92 db/1W/1m speakers (as indicated in my earlier post) by your Franks can produce a maximum SPL at a centered listening position of about 97 to 100 db.
So given those assumptions your findings don’t seem to me to be surprising. But given the distortion vs. power level characteristics of SETs, which Ralph (Atmasphere) has described and which from a technical standpoint make sense to me, the bottom line would seem to be that when playing recordings having the kind of dynamic range you described (about 32 db) you are not hearing the Franks at their best.
I’ll add that while a dynamic range of 32 db is no doubt a good deal greater than the dynamic range of a considerable majority of recordings among the various genres, there are some that greatly exceed that amount. I referred earlier to the wide dynamic range that can often be found on classical symphonic recordings. In a few such cases, on labels such as Sheffield Labs and Telarc, by examining waveforms of the recordings on a computer using a professional audio editing program I have found dynamic ranges of as much as 55 db! Correspondingly, at my 12 foot listening distance SPLs produced by those recordings cover a range from about 50 db to about 105 db. I would feel safe in saying that the combination of an 8 watt SET and 92 db/1W/1m speakers could not handle such recordings at reasonable average volume levels, say 75 db or so.
Just some food for thought. It has long been my belief that a major reason for the divergent opinions we often see about power requirements is differences in the dynamic range of the recordings different listeners listen to. As well, of course, as differences in individual volume preferences, listening distance, room size, etc.
Good luck, however you decide to proceed. Regards,
-- Al
So given those assumptions your findings don’t seem to me to be surprising. But given the distortion vs. power level characteristics of SETs, which Ralph (Atmasphere) has described and which from a technical standpoint make sense to me, the bottom line would seem to be that when playing recordings having the kind of dynamic range you described (about 32 db) you are not hearing the Franks at their best.
I’ll add that while a dynamic range of 32 db is no doubt a good deal greater than the dynamic range of a considerable majority of recordings among the various genres, there are some that greatly exceed that amount. I referred earlier to the wide dynamic range that can often be found on classical symphonic recordings. In a few such cases, on labels such as Sheffield Labs and Telarc, by examining waveforms of the recordings on a computer using a professional audio editing program I have found dynamic ranges of as much as 55 db! Correspondingly, at my 12 foot listening distance SPLs produced by those recordings cover a range from about 50 db to about 105 db. I would feel safe in saying that the combination of an 8 watt SET and 92 db/1W/1m speakers could not handle such recordings at reasonable average volume levels, say 75 db or so.
Just some food for thought. It has long been my belief that a major reason for the divergent opinions we often see about power requirements is differences in the dynamic range of the recordings different listeners listen to. As well, of course, as differences in individual volume preferences, listening distance, room size, etc.
Good luck, however you decide to proceed. Regards,
-- Al