2 channel for Revel F30's

My neighbor had a pair of F30s for a while. They were his front HT speakers but he also used them for 2 channel music. In my experience during the many hours I spent at his place is that they need a lot of power to get the bass right. Tubes would be a very nice compliment to their tweeter but your budget doesn't really allow for enough power - unless you only listen at low volumes and only like acoutic and jazz music. I assume since you have F30s that neither of those situations apply to you exclusively.

He tried a few amps with them and the best results came from an unexpected contender: The McIntosh MA6500. That integrated, despite its modest power rating, is really potent and could put out the most beautiful bass we heard from those speakers. It bettered some Classe and McIntosh separates in this regard. But F30s, if correctly sized for your room, can use 300W per channel easily IMO and a 6500 is just out of your price range anyway. I would suggest you look at a Musical Fidelity A308 integrated. It will be a very good compliment to the F30s in basically all aspects.

Arthur

Aball makes a great suggestion. I owned the A308 integrated with the F30's. One of the more favorite systems I have had. The bass from that system was very good, but not overpowering.

I drove F30's with a Cary SLI-80 Signature- running in triode. Bass was not as good as when driven with my Pass X-250 amp, but it was good enough- and everything else was oh-so-sweet!

You'd be surpised what moderate tube power will do for the F30's.

Hi Bill,

If you want tubes, I would say you need at least 100W to keep your amp (and speakers) happy. The Cary V12 would work but the amp alone is your entire budget.

Another local hifi buddy of mine has a Cary SLI80 and although it is quite powerful, I wouldn't personally use it in triode on F30s for anything other than acoustic vocals. In UL mode, it would probably be fine as long as you don't want a night club ambience. It is a great tube integrated that is sensitive to the tubes you have in it, so you can tailor the sound very easily to your liking. It would be a good starting point.

Arthur

The revel F30 is rated at 87db sensitivity, which really does not require 100watt tube amplifier.

I drive 88db sensitivity speakers to very high volume levels with a 12wpc Audionote tube amp. I listen to a wide variety of music including rock and orchestral. I drove the very same speaker with both a V12i and Sli80. The V12i could literally blow the doors down, and its power is of no use unless you want to have a dance party for the hard of hearing. I also ran these speakers on a 22wpc 6C33 set amplifier with great results.

However, none of the above produce the bass my Audionote does. I think a well spec’ed amplifier rated at about 22-35wpc should be more than adequate.

Regards
Paul

Most B&W speakers are rated at 89dB or so. I wouldn't recommend powering them with a 25 watt tube amp, though.

I don't think the issue of sensitivity is as clear cut as you make it.

One man's loud is another man's soft. It is all relative and loudspeaker sensitivity is barely 10% of the story.

Also, don't forget we are talking about logarithmic scale! Human brains tend to make everything linear but that isn't reality. "A little louder" can cost an extra 75W of power surprisingly easily. Do some dynamic range power calculations and/or live with McIntosh power meters for a while and you'll see what I mean.... I did both with Revel F30s and I can tell you, power is necessary for these speakers if you want to get the most of their ability.

Arthur

02-05-07: S7horton I don't think the issue of sensitivity is as clear cut as you make it

It could be that the Revel F30’s have a big variance in impedance across the frequency range. If that is the case, it is better not to use tube amplifiers at all, 100 wpc or otherwise. The amps will never sound their best.

Tube amps require speakers with benign impedance curves more than high sensitivity.

Regards
Paul