quandary: inefficient speakers, low-power amp

I was using a 50 watt triode Cary V12i amp with a pair of Spendor 1/2e speakers that are 88db efficient. However, I was using an active preamp with 12db of gain. I did not have the volume control issues you had and 50 watts seemed to make the amp work a bit harder, but the sound was wonderful so I kept with it for a while.

However, I was still a bit curious as to what more power could do with my speakers, or less power could do with more efficient speakers. I tried the Cary in ultalinear mode (100 watts) but was not that impressed. So I decided to experiment some more and while I am very high on Cary products, I made the decision that if something had to go it would be the amp and not the speakers. While I heard many efficient speakers with excellent sound, I came to the comclusion that the Spendors are the constant in my system.

So I decided to try a 225 watt solid state amp with the same speakers. Well the difference was amazing. The amp seemed to be able to drive the speakers effortlessly and they sounded much more dynamic.

In your case solid state may not be an option, but there are higher powered tube amps (mainly push-pull configuration) and hybrids that should work nicely with your speakers and passive preamp. Also, the biamping option could be your answer as well, especially if you decide that you want to keep the Anthems. An active preamp will add more gain, which will probably solve the issue with the volume control to some extent, but not necessarily improve the sound significantly.

For this Dyns you'll probably need 5x power you're currently using.

You can change an amp for a larger power or you can add SS amp with electronic crossover and biamp.

I had (relatively efficient: 93db/w/m, I think) Wilson Watt/Pupp 5.1s, and tried to feed them with 25wpc VTL Tiny Triodes. It worked, but when I went with 100wpc ARC VT100MK2, THEN I heard a whole other sound (better!) Years later, now on WP7s, I switched to the new NuForce 9s and the sound improved again. (My pre is tubed.)

I still play at the same volume. I think the transformation is more about damping factor and current delivery.

My advice: try the NuForces on a 30 day return priviledge.

Best of luck!

Bob Wood
http:www.GreatHomeTheater.com

There are many things to consider here. First, don't worry -- you're not straining anything other than possibly your voice coils if in fact you were clipping your amp. I don't think that's the case. More likely, your passive controller is the first problem. The input sensitivity of the Anthem tube amp may be (I couldn't find the figure on the web) too low for your sources to drive it to full power. An active preamp or at least a TVC (transformer volume control with +6db of passive gain) is probably called for. By your description, I take it you're running your volume control wide open and still not getting what you want, which gives you the impression you're "straining" your system.

It would be helpful to know more about your room, with respect to size and furnishing characteristics to guess your perception of the dynamic range of your system. You certainly could use more power but may in fact not need it if you have some voltage gain in the preamp stage. You can figure your 40/40 watts of RMS power from the tube amp have a good 3db of headroom on bursts. Also, does your amp have 4ohm output taps from the transformers?

There are a lot of ways to get more power if you like your speakers, but many of them won't please you if you're accustomed to the qualitative aspects of your amp. You can try a pair of the excellent Channel Islands D100 or D200 monoblocks on home trial with return privileges, and that is a quite musical and affordable solid state option. Another thing is to consider much more efficient speakers, Such as Zu Druids (101 db/w/m) or something Omega, for example. You might be surprised how much better things sound when your power amp isn't squeezing sound through a speaker crossover.

Phil

by the list of your components, I tend to believe that you will be happier with different speakers along with the same amp. The choices you are given here by members might be better invested with an efficient design such as speakers from Green Mountain Audio, Living Voice and others.

I have and still own speakers that are inefficient, one of then being a pair of Infinity Kappa 9s, also Gershman X-1+SW-1s and a bear of an amp, DNA 225, but my present system set up is op chip amps at 40 watts with a fullrange 8" alnico driver in a massive TL cabinet. Much much better and faster sound than inefficient speakers could have offer and ironically, better control.

Bi amping might defeat the purpose of coherence and space issues. Would we want to add two more components to make one component work with another? It is trying too hard to make things work well.