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EPI M100s: what amplifier? Any specs available? And other questions...

Posted by Mark Tinordi (A) on March 18, 2007 at 22:17:00

Hello:

I recently picked up a pair of Epicure M100 speakers for $20 at Goodwill. I had never heard of the brand before but I decided to give it a shot because I needed speakers and they were the lowest-price decent-looking speker they had. I was actually planning on having them be a stand-in until I could get some Klipsch RB-61s or RB-81s to use with the Bottlehead SET amp I'm planning on building.

However, I've fallen in love with these things. My question may sound strange or stupid, because these aren't very sensitive speakers at all. I think I saw 84dB somewhere; if somebody knows if that's right or not, and if anybody knows other specifications, do post them! It takes a good amount of juice to drive them, so maybe.

Anyway, I decided not to get the Klipsches and stick with the EPIs. That was the end of my SET amp dream, or so I thought; I'd still build the other components but I was pretty much resigned to getting a commercial ampm. I asked for advice on the Bottlehead forum and one member told me -- and another confirmed -- that his M100s, which matched the description of mine exactly, did great in a good-sized room with other people running from an 8-9W 300B single-ended amplifier.

If anybody here is into SET stuff -- and maybe I should have posted this at the SET Asylum, but I don't want to cross-post and it's about the speakers, after all -- can I get another opinion? Given that I sit about six feet away from the speakers in a small room alone, and I prefer moderate volume levels (that is, I don't use much power at all), would an 8.5W 300B amplifier work for me? Obviously not ifi I'm into blasting it, or if I'm in an ordinary-sized room sitting some distance away, but my circumstances are substantially more cramped.

And if the 300B would work well, how about a 2A3 configuration (3.5W)? It's only about three or four decibels quieter than the 300B, if I understand the double-wattage-equals-three-decibels thing correctly. My choices at this point are the Bottlehead Paramount (300B/2A3), then the Bottlehead Paramour (45/2A3) if I can't afford the Paramounts, then the Primaluna ProLogue Four if my speakers can't handle such little power, and the Antique Sound Lab Wave AV-25 DT monoblocks if I can't afford that one and have insufficient speakerage.

Thanks for any help. If you think I'd do better on the SET Aslyum, do let me know.

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