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Post by calypte on Jun 16, 2014 12:28:48 GMT -5
If you believe some of the pundits, ALL amps sound the same when driven BELOW any distorion levels. Do I believe that? Not necessarily. A good 'A' amp will have less….annoying….distorion and TYPE of distortion, think 'harmonics', than an AB amp at the same power. And generally less phase shift in upper frequencies than many 'D' amps. Amps with poor square wave may not sound as good, either, even if not techniclly distorting. Some amps don't like reactive loads and may measure well…into a resistor…but fail the real world test of driving a REAL speaker load. If possible, LISTEN before you buy! That's why the EMO MB deal makes reasonable sense. Many, many years ago I auditioned a phono cartridge at a hi-end audio salon. At the time I had Magneplanar Ib speakers, so that's what we used for my cartridge audition. The amplifier was an Audio Research D-70, a classic tube power amp. The cartridge (Sumiko Blue Point Special) was rather bright and edgy for my taste, and somewhere along the line the salesman suggested we swap the D-70 for a Perreaux solid-state amp, because it would be "similar" to the Hafler 220 I had at home. The amps sounded exactly the same to me. Now, maybe if they'd been pushed to high levels I would have heard something else. But, speaking only for myself, the experience persuaded me that lusting after hi-end amps was a waste of time and would probably be a waste of money should I buy one. |
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Post by leonski on Jun 16, 2014 18:22:48 GMT -5
Amp / Speaker matching is as much art as science. Hugely reactive speaker loads with wide impedance swings are not necessarily the best match for tube amps which can have unfortunate frequency response and power delivery problems with such loads. Maggies are a traditional 'easy' load, though they ARE of lower than average sensitivity. As near as I can tell, some the the more powerful AR amps go well with Maggies. Here's a link to a Pass article on Current Source amps and high-sensitivity speakers…..from which you can also branch out and read about voltage source amps. www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_cs_amps.pdfUnfortunate amp / speaker interactions are TOO common. I'm speaking electricla problems which may or may not lead to audible problems, but all to often DO have such effects. Just for example, I'd be careful trying to get TUBES to play well with most B&W speakers and some Thiels….Just Examples….. |
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Post by leonski on Jan 20, 2015 18:13:27 GMT -5
I had an inspiration for the OP.
Buy the XPA-5 and use 4 channels to BIAMP the 1.6s
This gets you the amp for the future AND with good resale should you go UP the food chain while providing for a basic 5.1 system
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Post by audiobill on Jan 21, 2015 13:10:14 GMT -5
I felt that the XPA2 sounded great with my 1.6s.
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