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Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor "Minimum" Power?

Would the new Bel Canto C5i work with the *original* Cremona Auditors at 88 dB @ 4 ohms? I have read conflicting reports about these speakers being easy and difficult to drive. The Bel Canto is a very modest 60 WPC into 8 ohms and 120 WPC into 4 ohms, but apparently has a pretty high current output at 30 amps and is stable with 3 ohm loads. Any other reason to believe this combo would not be good?

On a tangent, how does an amp have lower power but high current output? Aren't the 2 directly related? I recall from rudimentary Physics (for mathematically disabled Bio majors like myself) that P=i^2(R). Can somebody conceptually explain to me what's going on with the electrons in high power/low current vs. low power/high current?
eugene81
eugene81 OP
270 posts
 
Thanks for the reply. I would think the Auditors are harder to drive as they are rated 88 dB sensitivity vs the 91 dB of the floorstanders. Both are 4 ohm nominal impedance. I haven't found an impedance curve for the Auditors, but the big guys are relatively flat with a dip down to 2.8 ohms (ouch) in the upper bass.

How did the combination of Cremonas and Ref500M sound? That's a pretty good comparison as the C5i uses the same 125ASX2 ICEpower module, albeit only 1 compared to the pair of bridged modules in the 500M. At least the general sound qualities should be similar. I don't think it's fair to compare dynamics when the 500M puts out > 4x the power! Then again peak current is marginally higher at 35A. Again, power vs. current... *confused*
eugene81 OP
270 posts
 
Oops, I was comparing peak to RMS power. OK, the Ref500m ONLY puts out 3.75 times more power than the C5i. :)
alexatpos
1,206 posts
 
I have the SF Cremona Auditors as well,and I use Pathos Inpol 2 integrated hybrid amp,with 45wpc on 8 ohms and 75 wpc on 4ohm in A class. Had my doubts also too, because prior to Pathos I used the Krell integrated amp, with loads of power. But,I have to say that Pathos power prooved to be more than enough, for my room anyway, which is around 15m2, and I rarely use more than a half of its power. On the other hand, I tried friends integrated Arcam A38 with 100wpc and it simply could not drive the speakers, same happened with Prima Luna Prologe 1. The Cremonas prefer powerfull amp, but if your room is not huge,they are able to work with others as well. I have the paper with impedance curve that I got with brochures and speakers, if you think that it might help you,I guess I could find it and send it
xti16
1,525 posts
 
As long as you have a high current amp you should be fine. I came close to getting the SF auditor m's but then heard the Dynaudio C1's. My C1's are rated at 85db and previously had a Bryston B100SST (180w @4ohms) and it sounded pretty darn good to me but on a lark I demoed an Octave V70SE tube integrated (70w @ 4ohms) and it just crushed the Bryston B100. Naim XS and Supernait are a couple of other very good high current solid state integrated amps that match well with the C1's.
rgs92
974 posts
 
I use (as a power amp mainly) a Luxman 507 (110 watts) and it drives them fine, with lots to spare and no strain.
A tube preamp really helps a lot, especially with tubes that are mellow up top.
A great speaker. A classic imho.
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