SET with inefficient speakers


i've always wanted to hear how an SET amp would sound at home, but my speakers aren't a good match in theory. they are dali euphonia M4's. floorstanding with two 6.5" woofs. 88db 4 ohm.

however, my listening room is smaller (10'X16'), i sit very close to the speakers, and i don't listen very loud (usually around 80 db level, per recent fooling around with the radio shack meter).

anyone have success with low powered tube amps under similar situation. there is no loacal dealer to do an in-home audition, and i don't want to hassle with different speakers. thanks....
tim1
I don't know what the impedance "graph" of your Dali's is but if doesn't flucuate wildly and/or dip much below 4 ohms, you should be fine. I have run my Maggies with an 845 and 300b SET for kicks. Turned out pretty good within its limits.
Doesn't look like a good match, Dali recommends 50-350 wpc for the MS4. Seems to me that they designed the speaker specifically for amps of higher power.

But, for the sake of discussion, how much are you looking to spend?

The most important thing with SET amps and speaker matching is the speaker's impedance curve, much more than sensitivity. For example, an 88dB speaker with a ruler-flat impedance curve is a much easier load to drive for a SET amp than an 92dB one that dips to 1 ohm at times.

Unfortunately, Dali does not supply impedance curves for the Euphonia MS4 on their website, so it makes it hard to even guess how they would perform with SETs.

And you haven't specified if you are interested in Flea-powered(<2 wpc), low-powered(< 8wpc), or high-powered ones (20-50 wpc). There are even a few ultra-exotic amps that reach the 80-150 wpc range(NAT Se3 & Wavac HE-833Ver1.3, respectively).

One thing that might make it possible is that your MS4's are bi-wireable, so that you could drive the woofers(usually most power demanding) with a solid state or high powered amp and the tweeters/ribbons with a SET amp.

Although, there is one argument against this - the MS4's crossover to the tweeter/ribbons ~3Khz, which is little to high to get all the midrange benefits of SE triode glory.
It will work fine. 88db isn't so bad. Just don't ever expect real bass and you'll be happy.
In theory, if the speakers will give you 88db for one watt and you listen around 80 db, it will work. In theory. Try before you buy.
I drive 89db Acoustic Zen Adagios with a 22 watt 845 SET no problems, but as darkmoebius say's, it is the impedence that is the vital point. The Adagios are pretty flat and do'nt drop much below 6.5ohms. In fact, my SET had better grip on the speakers than a good 180watt SS amp I was using.

As always, I think you have to try a possible candidate in your room, with the speakers