Help. Wife says Teres 340 Is too bright.

I suppose somebody could bi-monobloc (2 BAT VK-150 SE) for a total of 4 monoblocs. And if it really sounded better, I'm sure there are audiophiles who would do it. I also imagine it would introduce new problems matching gain.

The point is, if higher wattages strongly correlated with better performance for efficient to moderately efficient speakers, then more goners would be bi-monoblocing. Well, at least driving their speakers with more watts.

Seriously though, I am open to a scientific explanation as to why 150 watts should sound better with 106db efficient speakers when compared to enough watts to get the job done well.

In general, I postulate that it is more difficult to build a muscial amplfier outputting more watts rather than fewer watts. So, in a perfect market, I imagine that a goner would do better putting his or her budget into the best quality amp that puts out enough watts to do the job.

Jj2468,
I think, people like Ralph (Atmasphere), would be in a much better position to explain the technicalities.
And of course, Victor Khomenko could do this as well, but unfortunately, he doesn't post much in this forum.

I will be out of town for a funeral for a few days. Unfortunately, my sister died on Wed. I have lost the 4 closest people to me in the last 2 yrs, 3 of them in one yr.I have not had an opportunity to make any changes to my system yet because I have also had a sinus infection.
There have been many good suggestions and a lot of good info so far. I thank you all for your help
I will try to work on these problems when I return, starting first with the least expensive. First thing is probably to remove the loading resistors and let it run at 470 ohms
Until then, thanks again. Hug a loved one. We are not promised a tomorrow. See you soon.

Hi Art,

I missed any reference to your using step-up trannies. Which ones are you using? Step-up ratio (or alternatively, dB of gain)?

So, if your cartridge is seeing a 42R load (and assuming you are loading the secondary of your step-up trannie), this would mean that there's a loading resistor in the 4K7 to 5K range.

You might try a higher quality resistor. Some of my customers report pretty good results. Loading the secondary however (the side of the trannie that "talks" to the phono stage) is less affected by resistor quality than is loading the primary (different values would be used for the primary, btw).

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I'm familiar with two of George Wright's phono stages - both of which were derived from your model. One of them is the phono stage in the WPP100c and the other was a stand-alone model - the number which escapes me at the moment.

Both of them had very high gain for an MM but not quite enough for a low output MC. I'd say that they were ideal with a medium o/p cartridge - say in the 1 to 1.5 mv range. On both of these units, he had a pot to adjust the gain, but frankly, it was too twitchy. At the price point, George was trying to anticipate too wide a range of cartridges - an impossible task - to try to be all things to all people (cartridges). I think he was facing resistance to step-up trannies and trying to deliver an honest product at a price point (which he did).

George put out a great value product for the money - not in the class of even a Hagerman Coronet-I, but still an honest and musical product.

Rest in peace, George ... you were one of the good guys and we all miss you.

I still suspect a new phono stage is in your future ;-)

Cheers,
Thom

Some things can put this obsession into a proper perspective.
You have lost much.
Best wishes.

Sam