New Tubes and ML

[DTB300]

Fair point...

But then if you're listening to a tube amp, in general, you don't dislike a bit anyway...

Having said that, I was reading the distortion specs for Audio Research's new class D amp. I was pretty amazed how poor it is, to say the least. See this month's Hi-Fi News for a review and tech test.

I really don't read spec's on equipment as it is usually pointless and usually has noting to do with how a piece sounds.

 

[Craig]

I think what you meant to say is that you should just audition before you buy

If that's what I meant to say then I would have said that.

 

[narvarr]

True Facts:
- A Watt is a Watt
- Current is Current
- An Ohm is an Ohm
- Amperage is Amperage
- It's also a fact that you can purchase a 1000 Watt Sony Home Theater system for $800 or less (including the 5.1 speaker system) at your local BigBox store or online.

My point is that you can't judge how well an amplifier will power a particular speaker simply based on the wattage spec. A Watt is a Watt but the current output is typically omitted from the published specs. There is more involved than an advertised wattage spec especially when the industry doesn't follow standards or make up their own as in the case of Home Theater in a Box systems.

The wattage spec is often used and abused by marketing because most customers don't know any better and they assume more watts=better sound. Although, the audiophile industry seem to be maintaining a common standard for the wattage spec on amps. Some amp manufactures do publish amperage output but not consistently.

The output transformer of a tube amp has a lot to do with the amount of current in relation to wattage it provides (unless it's an OTL amp of course). And tube amps in general output more current per wattage than SS amps. For the ultimate in power an SS amp is hard to beat. However, more power doesn't necessarily equate to better sound.

There is more to it than that. A watt is a watt, but you have high current wattage and high voltage wattage. High current is better for low impedance loads and high voltage is better for higher impedance loads with low inductance drivers. Best scenario would be to use high current on the panels and high voltage on the dynamic drivers if you have a bi-wire capable speaker.

 

[Reenberg]

Today it seems to make more sense to rate amps by their weight. Stick for something above 25kg .

My experience with the new active ML's is that it's harder to find a good amp. match. My old tubeamp drove my old ML Quest with elegance, but was useless on my new ML Vantage.

A Rougue m-150 was boring on my old Ques's but now I'm driving my Vantages with a Rogue Audio Cronus, and it sounds superb.

The lesson is that some Tube amps just cant handle the active stage ( Oscillation in the amp I guess) so it might make sense to read inhere what other people have success with inhere.


Happy hunting