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If someone were to want to try single ended technolgy based on the wonderful things everyone says about the pure sound ... and I have no problem with going from 250 to three watts if they sound great ... what are some really good amps out there that might match with 89 sensitive Meadowlark Ospreys and cost less than, say, $3000? Or is that wishful thinking?
Follow Ups:
You are in DC so go to Deja Vu Audio in McClean and liten to some gear there. They may let you take an amp home for a spin.
Horns and tubes especially SET were made for each other.
With a budget of 3K, go for speakers and a 2a3 amp. You have a lot to choos from in those categories
Speakers
Fostex
Pi
Altec's/Klipch
amps
Wright
Bottlehead
Welborn
just to name a few of the many choises, new or used you can come up with something realy great for 3 k
I totally disagree with the previous comments regarding the Meadowlarks being difficult to drive, that is patently incorrect, they present quite a benign impedance curve and work superbly with tube amps...o.k 3 watts is really stretching it with any 89dB efficient speaker, unless your room is tiny and you only listen to acoustic vocal material !
But I would not hesistate to suggest that virtually any 845 SET would deliver the goods, I actually use both an EL519 intergrated and 845 set monoblocks with my Meadowlarks, and can hardly turn up the wick in my 18x 36 room for prolonged periods, more than enough level and plenty of dynamic punch...both cost less than $3000 US (secondhand)....neither of these single ended amps are wanting compared to my Bryston high power monoblocks which are now longtime ago relegated to my closet....:-))
Take any advice here with a pinch of salt, best thing to do would be to borrow a "big tube" SET and give it a spin with your Meadowlarks, they are beautiful sounding easy to drive speakers and there's no need to go to ultra efficient speakers unless you want to get seriously in to flea powered sets...
figure. The impedance curve relates more accurately the efficiency.
Of course it does, thanks for the correction Tomas, in haste I used the incorrect term, but I think my general gist is apparent !
the 89 dB is most likely the std msmt of sound level produced by 1 watt measured at 1 meter. Sensitivity means how small of a signal can produce an effect in a device.
...is its output measured 1M away, driven by a solidstate amp driven with a 1KHz sinewave. The amp is connected first to a load resistor of 8 Ohms; the input is adjusted to create an output of 2.83VAC. That does happen to be 1 Watt into the 8-Ohm load, but read on. The resistor is disconnected and the speaker is connected to the amp, and the acoustical output is measured. Note that this standard measurement of sensitivity ignores the speaker's impedance.The older standard of efficiency is measured the same way EXCEPT...the speaker is indeed driven with 1 Watt, defined as that Voltage needed to drive 1 Watt into a load resistor equal in value to the speaker's impedance.
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Tin-eared audiofool and obsessed landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr
as "standard" when it comes to measuring this! every speaker company does it differently, and NO speaker is going to be equivalent to an 8-ohm resistor in terms of a load for obvious reasons (it has impedance, not resistance and is interactive). Also, this use of "sensitivity" for this supposed msmt is at odds with it's other uses in electronics- I have always thought purposefully so to mislead people that it means something, and there are the gullible they are successful with...
...simply doesn't understand the industry standards.BTW the possessive form of "it" is "its", not "it's".
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Tin-eared audiofool and obsessed landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr
just hucksters who try to make the gullible believe there are! Russ57 has one of the games id'd below, there are many others. Almost every co. does it differently. Only a couple companies that make drivers actually give out how they test, actually use anechoic chambers, etc. If you know the diff btwn an resistance and impedance why did you write that whole thing about setting power with an 8-ohm resistance and then replacing it with the speaker? No one who understands would write that up as if it were legit, cause it's not.
It was common to rate speakers according to how many dB they produced at 1 meter when powered with one watt.Now if the speaker is called an 8 ohm speaker and we feed it 2.83 volts that is the same because [2.83(2.83)]/8 ohms is one watt. But some dishonest speaker guys decided to pull a fast one and use 2.83 volts instead of one watt to power the speaker. As pointed out that is the same for an 8 ohm speaker. But if will send 2.83 volts to a 4 ohm speaker we are feeding it 2 watts and it makes the speaker appear to be more efficient than it is.
So for that reason when the spec is given in dB/meter with one watt it is called efficiency but it is called sensitivity when we use 2.83 volts as the input instead of one watt.
IMHO one watt should always be used. But given that a good quality solid state amp will double its wattage into half the load it is accepted. Just think how efficient 2 ohms speakers would look!
nt
Cut-Throat
45, 2A3,300B etc - nowhere near powerful enough.Have a looksee at the attached link.
I have no idea how they sound but they look like they can drive your speakers. ( but again - the amp / speaker mix could be pants )
So - I agree with the Cut-Throat's recommendation
Best
Gaspode
...and had enough power to drive mid-90dB peaks at the listening position in my largish (c. 3200CF) room.You might read Art Dudley's review in 'Stereophile'.
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Tin-eared audiofool and obsessed landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr
I think half of the 'draw' of SET amps are the efficient speakers. I'd shop for efficient speakers first (preferably horns) - then I'd look for a SET amplifier.
Cut-Throat
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