Dazed & Confused


Listening to mostly jazz, solo instruments and vocals I find my Martin Logan Spire hybrids to sound awesome, but recently I was listening to some both "Busy" 90’s rock and classical (lots of instruments playing loudly together) and I find the music starts to sound garbled and annoying (to bright), so much so, I turn it off.
I was wondering if you all might have some suggestions on some speakers that would be a little more forgiving with busy/loud music that I could possibly switch over to when listening to different types of music. That is unless I can find speakers that can handle all styles of music, then I would consider taking the hit ($$$) on selling the Spires.

Without getting into room size and dynamics, lets just call it a standard room, I was also looking for something more efficient. The Spires need a huge amount of power (and volume) to sound good. Looking more for something I can listen to loud but also still enjoy the music at a much lower volume if that’s at all possible. Neutral and not to bright.
Living in the sticks, I can’t just jump in the car to go demo speakers. Only once, in the past, did I purchase a set of speakers online and unheard, going solely on the sales person’s recommendations. I learned the hard way to never do that again!

Equipment now: Coda CSiB integrated amp with W4S 2v2 SE Dac running Roon Nucleus.

I also wanted to mention that the Spires have phenomenal base, so much so I sold the 2 subs I was originally using with them. Floor standers and bookshelfs have come along way in SQ these days, but if I need to purchase another set of subs the budget is starting to dwindle.

No vinyl or CD’s, just Tidal.

$3,000 - $5000 budget, new or newer demos.

Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have to offer!
Paul
high-amp
Happy Holidays to you and yours as well!

Thank you so much for responding. I really appreciate your sound (no pun intended) knowledgeable advice!

What were your thoughts on converting the amp to the V1 specs?
150 Watts per channel Class AB into 8 Ohms, 300 Watts per channel Class AB into 4 Ohms, Class A ~18 Watts so as to get more of class A?This from my now V3 (400 Watts @ 8 ohms/800 Watts @  4 ohms)

Coda was saying they sell 10 times more V1's (150w) compared to their V3's (400w).

I went from a 200W @8 ohm/ 400W @4 ohm McIntosh integrated that I had to run at 85+ out od 100 to get my Martin Logan Spires to sing whereas the CSiB sounded darn good at 65 out of 100 on the volume scale.

I may change my speakers eventually to less power demanding units, but in the meantime, I still wish to enjoy my Spires and not sure if the V1 configuration will suffice?

Paul

 
What were your thoughts on converting the amp to the V1 specs?

Although I have no experience with Coda amps or ML speakers, it seems to me like it could very possibly be a worthwhile change.

As you appear to realize, most of the time most users are just using a small fraction of an amp’s maximum power capability. And on brief dynamic peaks that may require close to full power, 300 watts into the nominally 4 ohm impedance of your planar speakers at your listening distance should result in a volume at the listening position of around 110 db!

And that would apply even if the speaker did not incorporate a 200 watt bass amplifier, which of course it does.

In saying this I’m assuming that the specified sensitivity of the speaker (91 db/2.83 volts/1 meter, which for its 4 ohm nominal impedance corresponds to 88 db/1 watt/1 meter) is reasonably accurate.

Also, I note in the manual for the speaker that "power handling" of 250 watts per channel is specified. So the speakers apparently wouldn’t even be able to handle anything close to the 600 watt/4 ohm power capability of the amp in its present "v2.5" configuration, that you had described earlier.

Regarding the comparison of volume control settings with the McIntosh amp that you mentioned, the volume control settings that are used are dependent on the gain of the amp, not on its maximum power capability. And while there tends to be a **loose** correlation between those two parameters among various amplifiers, there are a great many cases in which higher powered amps have lower gains than lower powered amps.

Best regards,
-- Al

Happy New Year Al, Sorry to bug ya again, but with altering my CSib to the V1 configuration ( 150 Watts per channel Class AB into 8 Ohms, 300 Watts per channel Class AB into 4 Ohms, Class A ~18 Watts), do you think I could still comfortably power a pair of Magnepan .7's, 1.7's or even the  3.7's?

https://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_7
https://www.magnepan.com/model_17
https://www.magnepan.com/model_MG_37

Thanks,
Paul
Hi Paul,

Happy New Year to you and yours as well.

Both the Maggies and your present speakers have the same nominal impedance, into which the reworked amp will be able to supply 300 watts.  All three Maggies have specified sensitivities that are 5 db less than the specified sensitivity of your present speakers.  The approximate maximum SPL at the listening position of 110 db that I calculated for your present speakers in my previous post did not take into account their powered woofers, which of course the Maggies don't have.

So it seems reasonable to me to simply subtract 5 db from the 110 db to derive an approximate estimate of the maximum SPL the revised amp would be able to generate with the Maggies at your listening position. 

And 105 db at the listening position is certainly enough for most of us.  Although I have a few classical symphonic recordings on labels such as Telarc, Sheffield Lab, and Reference Recordings which have been engineered with minimal or no dynamic compression, that can reach 100 to 105 db at my listening position on occasional brief dynamic peaks, while being listened to at average SPLs in the mid-70s.  But recordings having such wide dynamic range are rarely encountered.

Best regards,
-- Al