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New member Username: PaulfolbrechtPost Number: 3 Registered: Dec-05 | I want to build a system around PrimaLuna's awesome SET (tube) gear. I want (need) some senstitive speakers to make the most of this gear (36W/ch). I listen mostly to modern and hard rock and some jazz. Am willing to spend up to $3K. Would love to hear recommendations!! Thanks! |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6988 Registered: May-04 | PrimaLuna is making a singled ended triode amp? When you say "high sensitivity", what sort of numbers are you thinking? 93dB @ 1 watt? 104 db? Somewhere in between? |
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New member Username: PaulfolbrechtPost Number: 4 Registered: Dec-05 | Gee, I was wrong, wasn't I? It's not SET gear. I read about it on a SET forum and thought it was but it's not. But it's tube (duh) and sounds great. I think 93 would be entirely adequate. 36W/ch is not like 8W. Even 90 might be Ok but I've heard that, for example, B&W 703s, which are 90, are "hard to drive" by these amps for other reasons (which I don't understand). Or, perhaps that's hogwash. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 7011 Registered: May-04 | All 90dB speakers are not equal when it comes to putting sound into your room. For various reasons I don't do product recommendations and I'm surprised there aren't some other responses here. Scan the last few months of this thread; https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/111344.html There are a few guys posting there who are running the PrimaLuna amp and they might give you some suggestions. I know John A. is running Quads with his amp. They are hardly what would be considered a high efficiency speaker. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 681 Registered: Dec-03 | A 36w/ch push pull is a different animal than a SS amp of similar w/ch rating. Unless you're planning on filling a large area with high SPL sound most any speaker can be driven by that amp. What is more important than efficiency is the impedance curve. Tube amps will respond much better to a smooth impedance curve that stays above a preferred minimum with few or no dips and peaks in the middle of the frequency range. |
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Silver Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 783 Registered: Dec-04 | Hi Tim. Is a flat or smooth impedance curve designed around the driver(s) in particular, and how broadly would the curve be affected by various types of XO's? Is the single driver of the Ling designed for this type of impedance, and did you design it with tubes in mind? Enjoy your trip, Merry Christmas. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 684 Registered: Dec-03 | A smooth impedance curve is very much a part of the magnet circuit/motor design of a particular driver. Not every designer is going to be concerned about such things, especially if they believe the buyer will not be concerned about it. The same goes for a multi-driver speaker. The impedance curve should be a consideration in the crossover design but isn't always. SS amps are more forgiving (or at least it's less noticeable) of large swings in the impedance curve of a speaker system. Not so with tube amps. Tubes respond much better to a smooth impedance curve, especially one that does not take a large dip below an anticipated minimum load. If you've connected what you believe to be an 8 ohm nominal system to your 8 ohm taps and it dips below 4, you could suffer damage to your precious bottles. The designers of the drivers used in the Lings (both woofer and tweeter)had the goal of a smooth impedance curve in mind. It's actually inherent in the XBL^2 motor structure making any XBL^2 based design a good match for tube amps. |
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New member Username: PaulfolbrechtPost Number: 5 Registered: Dec-05 | Hello, and thanks for the replies! I've since educated myself a great deal more about the tech aspects of all this. My speaker choice ended up being Joseph Audio RM25si. I bought a demo pair. These speakers are wonderful. I auditioned B&Ws up to the 803, Tannoys, and DnyAudio, and prefer these (although the Tannoy TD8 are totally killer also). I also have, sitting right now at the local UPS depo, one of the very first pairs of the new PrimaLuna 70W monoblock amps in the country. And a -3 preamp. This should be a killer combo! (And yes the JAs do have a very flat impedence curve, as I've sure you guys are aware. Very tube-friendly. I audtioned them strictly with tube gear.) ~Paul |
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New member Username: PaulfolbrechtPost Number: 6 Registered: Dec-05 | One more comment: boy, was I stupid to think the PL stuff was SET, eh? :-} That's amusing to me now... |
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Silver Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 919 Registered: Dec-04 | Nice set-up Paul, keep me/us informed, please. |
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New member Username: PaulfolbrechtPost Number: 9 Registered: Dec-05 | See new thread in the Amps section. |