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90db, 7ohm speakers: tube amp recommendations?

HI,

I have the new Tyler Acoustics Decade D1's, and they sound very, very nice (still breaking in, but so far, couldn't be more pleased). I was considering a tube amp with them, would be paired with my McCormack ALD-1 Revision Gold+. I was thinking about a lower-powered push/pull design, something with over 20 watts obviously, but I don't need a ton of power for these. Room is around 400 square feet. Any good ideas? Budget is $2000 or so (used). Saw a Canary 301 that had been upgraded (22wpc, lots of current capability) but it sold very quickly. I was also considering higher powered KT-88 designs, but have been told that I may do better with a a bit lower powered amp, vs, say a ARC VT-100 MKii.

Looking for a fairly full, musical sound, but not too bloomy or warm. These speakers are extremely transparent yet musical, and I want to continue in that direction; a bit of tube fullness, but with no loss of soundstage or detail. It will be more or less to try: my upgraded (by SMC) McCormack DNA-125 amp currently sounds superb, but it would be nice to try something else for a bit.

dawgcatching
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
With the easy load of those speakers, I'd recommend a used pair of Atma-Sphere M60s. With the right speakers, OTLs have superior performance in many regards. Their S30 might even be enough. Search the archives, plenty already said on the topic. Cheers,
Spencer
newbee
4,751 posts
 
'90db 7ohm' (nominal impedence) is an oversimplified description of your speakers impedence when you are considering proper amplification. You really need to know what the impedence curve looks like, or at least where the major deviations are and how big they are, especially the dip's. It would not be unusual for a speaker with a nominal impedence of 7 ohms to have a droop to 2 to 3 ohms in the bass making it a tough load for a lot of amps. IMHO, proper impedence matching is probably a bigger issue for you than the difference between a medium v high power amp. FWIW.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
You might want to consider the Prima Luna amps. They're very good sounding
tube amps that fall into your price range and will almost certainly drive your
speakers in the described room to satisfactory SPLs. I say "almost
certainly" because in the unlikely event that a) the impedence curve is
really nasty - per Newbee, and/or b) you need true "ear bleed"
volume levels, you might be pushing it with these amps. OTOH, that caveat will
apply to most tube amps in your $ range. The P/Ls also allow easy "tube
rolling" to provide you some latitude in adjusting the ultimate sonic
character by switching the output tubes. They sound great, are well built and
require little maintainance (auto-biasing).

Good Luck

Marty
vett93
205 posts
 
At least, you need to find out the minimal impedance of your speakers. I have two pairs of speakers, both rated 91dB@8ohm. They sound night and day different with my 50W KT88 monoblocks.

One pair has a flatter impedance curve and these 50W KT88 monos drive them nicely. But then with my JM Lab Alto Utopia BE, its impedance drops to 3.6ohms at lower frequencies. These KT88 monos are very inadequate for Alto Utopia.

I use Counterpoint NP100 to drive them. NP100 is rated 100W@8ohm and 200W@4ohm. It is barely enough for the Alto Utopia!

So like Newbee said, you need to investigate more.
dawgcatching OP
139 posts
 
I was told the minimum impedance is around 7ohm, nominal is 8ohm, with a flat curve that is "easy to drive". I haven't seen specs on them, but from listening so far, they are driven very well with my little 125wpc SS amp, whereas my previous speakers needed more juice.
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