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In Reply to: Re: ZEROs are step-down devices. posted by Kiefer74.1 on October 23, 2006 at 23:06:47:
Your sonic description suggests you are fighting dynamic compression. If your amps still have plenty of headroom at your preferred listening levels, then the ZEROs will help. If not, and you have to crank the volume with the ZEROs to the point of clipping, you may fry your tweeters. It is not easy to determine the actual headroom of amps in operation, and it is easy to damage your speakers.Different users have different priorities and musical tastes. Some may not care about dynamics as much as, say, tonal purity or detail. These folks would be more likely to be satisfied with moderate tube power on MG-3.6s.
I've got MG-20s and a very revealing system to support them. Even though I don't listen to loud music or at high levels, I've found that an important aspect of getting palpable presentation is adequate damping of the speaker and room resonances. The amps I use, Gilmore Raptor monoblocks, are rated for 500 watts per channel into 4 ohms. This is far more power than I need, but the very low output impedance of these amps, less than 0.05 ohms, makes them ideal for controlling the Maggies and room.
A previous setup, with hybrid bi-amplification, had more aggregate power capability, but no where near the control of the Raptors. It was clean and pretty, but the subtle lumpiness in the response made it less appealing than the sound I get now. The dynamic contrasts are also better now, but that was not my focus when I installed the Raptors.
Magnepans are wonderful speakers, but dynamics at high levels is not one of their strong points. An inmate who used to post here kept blowing the ribbons on his MG-3.6s, even with loads of power, and finally exchanged them for InnerSound electrostatic speakers. The beaming of the InnerSounds makes them have higher efficiency and better dynamics as long as you stay in their sweet-spot.
Can you borrow a high-current SS amp, to see if you like the dynamics better? It is difficult to ignore the change in sonic character, but you seem to have some music in mind that would reveal whether any amp can make your MG-3.6s have satisfactory dynamics.
Follow Ups:
"Your sonic description suggests you are fighting dynamic compression. If your amps still have plenty of headroom at your preferred listening levels, then the ZEROs will help"How do if I know if I have headroon left?
"The amps I use, Gilmore Raptor monoblocks, are rated for 500 watts per channel into 4 ohms. This is far more power than I need, but the very low output impedance of these amps, less than 0.05 ohms, makes them ideal for controlling the Maggies and room."
To be honest If I had the 20.1's I'd be running around 500 watts Minimum! I'd have and amp for each channel...minimum of 150+ (in tube form) 300+ in SS just for the bass panel, but hey that's me...and I don't have the money to even have the 20.1's or the amps required to run them."Can you borrow a high-current SS amp, to see if you like the dynamics better? It is difficult to ignore the change in sonic character, but you seem to have some music in mind that would reveal whether any amp can make your MG-3.6s have satisfactory dynamics."
I actually have 1.6's not 3.6's. I have no friends that are into hi fi (besides cars with one or two cases). Not a lot of options from dealers here in Columbus OH. Maybe I can find someone here that would let me borrow their amp for a week (I'd pay insurance costs and all that of course).
Jon
who lives closer than I do (Northern California) can step up to help out with a spare SS amp.I'm confident you would like the improvement in overall fidelity from the ZEROs, but I'm trying to be cautious and not give a blanket endorsement for an approach that might result in damage to your speakers. The Mg-1.6s are much less delicate than the ribbon tweeter models, so you would probably be able to detect clipping before you generated damaging high frequency energy. The sound should get hard (grossly distorted) at the loudest levels if your amp is clipping. This will be most evident on compressed recordings of continuously loud music, e.g. Tower of Power. Audiophile recordings of quiet classical music with a few loud, but short, transients would be more difficult to use.
You might want to contact Paul Speltz directly, to see if he has a return policy.
Yes, Paul does have a return policy of something between 30-90 days...I can't remember. I may give them a shot.I'm going to wait on most changes as I'm in the process of converting my living room into my bedroom and vice vera. Damn it's good to not be married!
Thanx for your advise!
Jon
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