Class D and High Efficiency Speakers?

Low powered tubed amplifiers are a better match for horns than class d amplifiers.

Onkyo, Pioneer, Sansui, and Kenwood notwithstanding.

That's my formed opinion based on experience.

I use the Tripath based Red Wine Audio 30.2 on my Cain Abbys, 95 db. I'm a 300b lover and have several SET amps. In the summer it's tough to keep things cool with all the tubes and this has been great. It has more of the cushioned sound I hear in tubes than some of the other digital amps I've tried. Good luck.

I design speakers specifically intended to work well on low damping factor tube amps, but double-check them on a high damping factor solid state amp (one that has been mentioned in this thread) to make sure I'm not painting myself into a corner.

In my opinion, even when the speaker works well with both types, the low damping factor tube amp sounds better.

Now, if your high-efficiency speakers were designed to be driven by solid state (constant-voltage) amplification, they may sound better with a Class D amp than with your 300Bs.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

09-18-08: Audiofeil
Low powered tubed amplifiers are a better match for horns than class d amplifiers.

Onkyo, Pioneer, Sansui, and Kenwood notwithstanding.

That's my formed opinion based on experience.

Nobody said anything about Pioneer, Sansui, or Kenwood. Your lumping of the Onkyo--and the incredible job they did with the A-9x55 series--in with them is desultory and dismissive.

The question wasn't an invitation to audio snobbery, but rather an inquiry whether a higher powered class D amp is categorically a bad match. I cited a professional review into very high sensitivity horn-based speakers powered successfully by the Onkyo. The high switching noise typical of a class D amp would make for a bad match with a high efficiency horn, but Onkyo of all the class D amp designers has put together a couple of features to lower the noise floor--a large, powerful analog power supply, and a patented circuit to mirror the switching noise and thus cancel it. Robert Deutsch's review verifies that it works. He also tried a $1500 Flying Mole class D and reported that it was unacceptable, and nowhere near as good sounding as the Onkyo.

That one might ultimately still prefer SETs is a separate issue.

It seems the old VTL Tiny Triodes would be a good matchup for such a speaker as well.

Thanks for the input guys. It seems that If I really want to satisfy my curiosity I am just going to have to give them a go with my speakers.

Cheers