Sonic Frontier Line One with Class D Amp?

Hi Robbie.

I have a concern that neither the Bel Canto nor the JR 102 has enough power to drive your speakers at their full potential.

The 802s are 8 ohm and have a sensitivity rating of only 85dB. The manufacturer recommended MINIMUM power rating is 100W w/ no upper limit on wattage. I think you might need at least 200 wpc into 8 ohms for your speakers.

My Dali Ikon 6 are rated at 150w max @ 8ohms with 90dB and I needed a 200wpc amp to get them moving. They could easily take 300wpc.

BTW, I used to own the SF Line 1 with the humongous SF 110w x 2 tube amp. You have a really fine preamp there.

Mike

I sspect Mike is correct. With an 85dB efficiency, the speakers will require fairly heft amps with perhaps 35Amps or 40Amps of current. Within class D amps, you need to look at devices built around the ICEpower 1000ASP module, which typically yields 500W and 40A. Examples are Bel Canto Ref 1000 and JRDG 501 monos. I believe some Wired4Sound and Seymour amps also use the same module and may be more affordable. By comparison, I have tried Maggies 3.6 that have the same sensitivity as the B&W 802s with the JRDG 201 monos (250W) and the JRDG 501 monos. . . the 201 monos quickly ran out of steam, while the 501s handled the Maggies handsomely. The 102 stereo yields only 100W and 11Amps of current. . . it is unlikely that it will be sufficient for your speakers.

Coffey - It doesn't do 2 ohms. Minimum is 3 ohms.

Coffey, I have just received confirmation from JRDG that the 102 model is not meant for extreme loudspeaker designs that operate in the 2 Ohm impedance range. G.

Thanks everyone for all the help, but in the end I did not buy a Class D Amp. After reading the Jeff Rowland only output 11 Amps Peak Current per side, I was a little worried it was not enough power for my B&W Matrix 802S3's

I ended up buying a "Musical fidelity A3CR" 12O watt per channel into 8ohms, 70 amps Peak Current. It was available locally for a decent price, so I jumped on it. I listened to it at low levels last night (Wife and Kiddies were sleeping)for a couple hours and so far I really like what I hear. If I feel I need more power I can always add a second one later because A3CR has outputs so it can be bi-amped.

Thanks again for all your help.

Robbie