Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2

Posted by George S. Roland (A) on January 7, 2015 at 11:57:38

I write again to explore further some new "findings" from my previous posting. I have been exploring bass response of my two speakers--Quad ESL-63s and B&W Matrix 801 Series IIs using the two power amps from my previous postings, each 100w/ch, one solid state the other tubed. I am not a scientist and these measurements were made just by ear.

Today, I started testing the depth of bass response using Stereophile's Test CD (STPH-002-2) using tracks 25-31 which were all warble tones at -20dB.
The relevant tracks were:
25 @ 80Hz
26 @ 63Hz
27 @ 50Hz
28 @ 40Hz
29 @ 31.5Hz
30 @ 25Hz
31 @ 20Hz

I would expect the B&W Matrix 801 Series II to exhibit much deeper bass, but that turned out not to be the case. Nor was the depth of bass I got different from one power amp to the other.

I played the warble tones through each amp into each speaker, switching between them until I could no longer hear the tone, recording the lowest tone I could hear before there was a sharp drop off in audibility.

Here's what I got:

SS amp Quad: 40Hz
SS amp B&W: 63-50Hz

Tube amp Quad: 40Hz
Tube amp B&W: 63-50Hz

One respondent mentioned damping factor of the amp.
The damping factor of the tube amp was listed as 11.
That for the solid state amp was 300 to 1kHz into 8 ohms; 60 to 10kHz into 8 ohms.

I wonder what comments you might care to make with regard to the findings.

I am wondering why the B&W bass response was the way it was when I expected it to go lower than the notoriously bass-hobbled ESL?

Were both amps just too underpowered to show the B&W's real bass abilities? Or, another way, if I used a much more powerful amp, say a 200-300w/Ch solid state amp with a very high damping factor and much more current capability, might I expect the B&Ws to best the ESLs in depth of reproduced bass frequencies?

George

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Topic - Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - George S. Roland 11:57:38 01/07/15 (18)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - thebordas 17:10:04 01/27/15 (0)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - dunkyboy 15:02:41 01/23/15 (0)

The bass performance of a tube amp... - morricab 12:47:57 01/08/15 (0)

I told you damping factor was over-rated... - Ralph 10:40:13 01/08/15 (0)

Some Questions - fin1bxn@msn.com 05:31:08 01/08/15 (1)

RE: Some Questions - George S. Roland 12:52:16 01/08/15 (0)

those 2 speakers are loading the room differently - Tom Schuman 00:51:55 01/08/15 (0)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - pictureguy 23:59:20 01/07/15 (1)

This is NOT an easy load for tube amp - Frihed89 01:42:27 01/08/15 (0)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - M-dB 21:15:40 01/07/15 (4)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - George S. Roland 21:52:17 01/07/15 (3)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - M-dB 08:34:41 01/08/15 (2)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - George S. Roland 06:21:52 01/09/15 (1)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - M-dB 09:54:58 01/09/15 (0)

You aren't using the B&W Bass Alignment Filter, are you? - David S. 14:09:18 01/07/15 (1)

RE: You aren't using the B&W Bass Alignment Filter, are you? - George S. Roland 21:54:30 01/07/15 (0)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - fantja 13:58:48 01/07/15 (0)

RE: Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2 - A.Wayne 12:22:54 01/07/15 (0)

Bass performance tubes vs. solid state part 2

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