When a Reviewer "likes" something

I think we should go private with this argument, if you wish. It has nothing to do with the topic.

I can't resist one point: speakers in general have evolved to match solid state amplifiers. Does that mean necessarily that we are left with the best possible speakers? No. However, I would not argue for a moment that high power solid state amplifiers are best suited to drive low impedance, low efficiency, multi-driver speakers which are dominant in the high end marketplace. Most of those speakers suck, IMO. (Yes, that's MHO.)

I can no longer enjoy music...Raul ruined it for me.

Lew and Raul, I greatly respect both of your opinions and knowledge. But Raul made a couple of points that jive with a technical issue that I am presently sorting through. As you can see from my system description, I own Paradigm Signature 8 speakers and drive them with an ARC tube amp which puts outs 120 wpc.

Raul is correct in saying that matching an amp with a particular speaker is an electrical issue. Lew, I'm sure you read Ralph Karsten's White Paper that explains the so-called Voltage and Power Paradigms. As I am learning, some speakers have impedance curves and phase angles that make them tube friendly. However, other speakers were designed and voiced to be driven by solid state amps, not tube amps. And many of these speakers may not be so tube friendly.

I appreciate that there are a lot of other factors at play when matching amps and speakers. But some tube amps will simply have a hard time driving speakers with wild impedance curves and reactive phase angles, especially in the low frequency range.

Perhaps an even more important point. If a speakers was designed and voiced with the expectation that it would be driven by a SS amp, even if a tube amp has the umph to drive the low end, the speaker's acoustic signature may change the whole presentation. Hence it is possible that a speaker that is spec'ed to be ruler flat if driven by a SS amp, may not perform the same if driven by a tube amp.

In my case, my Paradigm S8s are the "back of the room darlings" of many a reviewer, including Mark Mickelson. See his article in the May, 2010 edition of TAB. The S8s were voted by another mag to be the best speaker on the market in 2011. Isn't that great?? [sic]

But here's the darker side to the story. After reading Ralph's White Paper and doing a lot more research, it became apparent that my speakers are NOT so tube friendly. Ooops. The impedance curves and reactive phase angles made me dizzy.

I spoke with Paradigm's technical folks and they said that the S8s were designed and voiced to be driven by a high power/high current amp. Oh sh*t!! Ralph's White Paper would describe such an amp as a Voltage Paradigm amp, or more commonly known as a typical SS amp.

Aside from issues pertaining to my ARC tube amp's ability to tackle my speaker's low end, I suspect that its acoustic presentation is different than described in Paradigm's literature.

This issue, or at least facets of it, has been raised in numerous Forum OPs. But here's my gripe and it's a big one. I think it's incumbent on the manufacturers to expressly state whether their speakers were designed to be driven by a tube amp or a SS amp, or perhaps both. Similarly, I think it's incumbent on the reviewers to alert their readership of the same point.

While one can argue about the virtues or deficiencies of tube versus SS, if the electrical match with the speaker is way off, the argument is simply academic.

So now, I'm trying to tweak my rig to get the type of performance that I expected to get after reading company literature and all the reviewer articles that are posted on the company's web site. Right now, I'm playing with the output tranny taps and also contacted Tom Tutay to custom design a low pass filter that will be inserted between my line stage and amp. The objective is to try an tame my speakers.

My bottom line advice to my fellow members is do your homework if buying new speakers or a new amp. Electrical matching is the FIRST question to be asked and answered. Try to obtain impedance and phase angle graphs. If the impedance curves and phase angles are moderate, the speaker may be tube amp and SS amp friendly. Also, call the speaker company's tech people and ask what type of amp the designers had in mind to drive the speaker.

That's about all for now. I'm sure my post will generate a lot of negative push back, but this is where I am holding now until someone cogently explains otherwise.

Cheers.

I'm sure my post will generate a lot of negative push back, but this is where I am holding now until someone cogently explains otherwise.

Cheers.
Bifwynne

Don't worry. You are right and what you wrote is normal common sense. But did you never ask yourself, why Reviewers ignore those basics? Or why they are able to write enthusiastically about a tube amp they "reviewed" with a multi-chassis, low efficient speaker design which needs the first 30W for wake up? And the amp has only 10 ... :-)
But that is only 1 example. Atkinson wrote in that Issue, that in most forums is mainly nonsense written, from time wasters who have absolutely no idea from anything and a professional reviewer who writes in a magazine, is a much more serious source...

As an insider I can tell you it more often means nothing at all when a product is raved. But sometimes some reviewers are right on target. The problem is that you have absolutely no way of knowing which of the above is true for any given review. Listening for yourself is the only way!