2. amps-preamps
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Amp more important than speakers?

The common wisdom seems to be the opposite (at least from speaker makers), but I have tried the many speakers that have come thru my house on lesser amps or my midfi A/V receiver and something was always very wrong, and things often sounded worse than cheap speakers.
On the other hand, I have tried many humble speakers on my my really good amps (& source) and heard really fine results.

Recently I tried my Harbeth SHL5s (& previously my Aerial 10Ts, Piega P10s, and others) on the receiver or even my Onkyo A9555 (which is nice with my 1985 Ohm Walsh 4s, which I consider mid-fi), and the 3 high end speakers sounded boomy, bland, opaque.

But when I tried even really cheap speakers on my main setup (Edge NL12.1 w/tube preamp) I got very nice results
(old Celestion SL6s, little Jensen midfi speakers).

So I don't think it's a waste of resources to get great amplification and sources even for more humble speakers.
My Harbeth SHL5s *really* benefit from amps & sources that are far more expensive than the Harbeths.

Once I had Aerial 10Ts that sounded like new speakers with vocals to die for when I drove them with a Pass X350 to replace an Aragon 8008.

Oh well, thanks for reading my rambling thoughts here...

So I think I would avoid pairing good speakers with lesser amps,
rgs92
mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
Just looked at the TE Model 1. 
Interesting,,but not same as my 
WB8+WB4

Its my understanding no one, as far as I know,,has come up with this pairing..Unless you can find a  link to show me anyone else who has paired a  8+4 wide band.
I am the 1st.
Its in my ancestral genes to tinker and expolre outside the box.
Have to thank my tech geek for stirring up my wondering  and searching.
In many ways he also is a  original.
He builds, designs amps, 
Waiting on his emails now, about my new latest design. 
I told him to shout out to the new orleans audiophile community about my new *Holy Grail* speaker design.  

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,936 posts
 
Wasn't this thread supposed to be about amps? It's starting to look like a page out of Speaker Builder magazine.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,753 posts
 
For the last 50 years or so there's been the tubes/transistors debate. I really do wonder how that can be and speakers more important than the amplifier given how willing people are to debate that topic. If you don't like tubes, you'll get a solid state amp, right? And vice versa.


One thing is sure: if the amp isn't bringing home the bacon, there's no way the speaker will make up for it.
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