$$$Sensitive Speakers with $$Amps?

Trelja,
Very nice and interesting post!
There are things that happen with audio that are just hard to explain(and sometimes hard for some to except)I was a happy owner of a very good PP tube amplifier(100 watt UL and 60 watt in triode). Along comes an eight watt 300b SET and everything changed,there`s no going back.Interstingly my SET amp also uses an interstage transformer rather than coupling capacitors(not sure of the significance).
Regards,

Thanks, Trelja.

Bravo, a good dosing of tangible results through hands-on research! Well done.

As I quickly and loosely threw a number of amplifier contenders into a heap, it sounds like you might be able to help me discard and/or re-sort the list to better match the two and possibly additional speaker models.

As with many audiophiles, I love music without an engineering degree, so my ears tell all. Your contribution, however, makes me wish I had at least finished my correspondence course with the Cleveland Institute of Electronics. Funny, I got to the part about vacuum tubes and threw my hands up. Too bad, it was back in the seventies and I had no one to hold my hand, like on AudiogoN!

Seriously, this forum thread is not all about me. Hopefully, it can be used as some small reference to others of what types of low-watt amps match up nicely with types of HE speakers. A plus, and the part that is related to me at this time, is finding lower cost wonders to match up with my speakers of interest.

I live in Colorado, so I have access to RMAF. This is where I met Jeff (HWS) who’s a great guy and my main dealer of the last three years. I also grew up in NYC and worked downtown, so I am very familiar with the surroundings.

Again, thank you for your help and commentary.
Kenny

Charles1dad, its not like I listen to those levels all the time! But there are certain LPs, that in order to sound life-like, have to be allowed to do what the composer and musicians had in mind.

The Verdi Requiem (RCA Soria edition), side one track 2, is an example. The music goes from ppp to ffff (for those of you not into music, very very quiet to as loud as can be played) and as far as I can make out, the LP is not compressed. It will bring most stereos to their knees very quickly! Its just not convincing when the system is playing the quiet portions at the right level and then craps out/compresses/gets harsh when the music demands it. So its nice to have some dynamic range available, even if it does not get used all that much.

Here's couple of others:
Decca/London Das Reingold (Solti cond.) side 6. Amazing. (I'm not much of an opera fan but I make an exception for Wagner.)
Black Sabbath Paranoid Vertigo 'white Label' UK edition. Astonishingly well-recorded. The energy in the grooves is un-playable on many systems.

Joe, seriously, we've not been sitting on our hands in the last 8 years. Get that M-60 in here- I think you will be pleasantly surprised... Now I am wondering about this horn/transmission thing. As you know I had some of Bud's speakers as well (still have his big subwoofer) and our amps have always found them a very friendly load. But I've had a lot of horns too and have found them to be friendly loads too. But you have been very consistent in your comments about rear horn loading, which flies in the face of our experience/feedback. So I am wondering if there is something in particular about the speaker model that you have or what. There's not yet enough data to be conclusive.

05-18-12: Atmasphere
... its nice to have some dynamic range available, even if it does not get used all that much.

One of the widest dynamic range recordings in my collection (although there are many others that are close) is the Sheffield Labs recording of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. Out of curiosity, a while back I examined its waveforms on a computer, using an audio editing program. The difference in volume between the loudest notes and the softest notes was around 55 db!

On that recording, and quite a few other classical symphonic pieces I have on high quality labels that tend to use minimal compression, I frequently measure brief peaks at my listening position in the 100 to 105 db area, using a Radio Shack digital SPL meter, although the average level is by no means particularly loud.

Those peaks are not nearly as loud, btw, as those I heard when I once listened from the very front row at Tanglewood to the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing that same Prokofiev work. My guess is that the peaks easily reached 115 db.

Best regards,
-- Al

".. its nice to have some dynamic range available, even if it does not get used all that much."

Not just dynamic range (difference between loudest and lowest levels) but headroom in general to go loud as needed even if the dynamic range is compressed, as it is in many if not most popular recordings out there these days.

Just watch your ears. Too much exposure to SPLs over mid 80's or so is generally acknowledged to damage hearing incrementally over time.

High efficiency speakers combined with high power amps might be the closest thing in audio to a weapon of mass destruction. Especially when accidents happen ( and they do happen). So be careful....

I was glad to hear that one agoner I know of moved to a more flea powered tube amp from a 500w/ch Class D shortly after adapting a pair of Avantgardes.