Sounds good, Jim. Enjoy!
Best regards,
-- Al
Best regards,
-- Al
Advice using electrostats with tube amp.
I'm currently using a Cary Rocket 88R amp with Serie Reference 3A speakers which I like very much but I have an opportunity to buy back my pair of Martin Logan Theos speakers that I sold about a half year ago. I used Martin Logan speakers for many years having had the Odyssee's in the system for 14 years. Now that I'm using the tube amp, I'm wondering how the pairing would be in consideration of the current demand of these speakers at certain frequencies. I was made aware on these forums of impedance dipping below 1 ohm with the Odyssee's at least. Would the Ethos present as drastic a drop and, if so, can this Cary handle it.
Showing 2 responses by almarg
Jim (Broadstone), an impedance curve for the Ethos can be found on this page. My guess is that given the relatively small amount of energy that most music has in the top octave the 0.8 ohm impedance at the upper end of the spectrum won’t **in itself** be a problem, provided that you use the 4 ohm tap on the amp. And, as you mentioned, operating the amp in ultra-linear mode might turn out to be preferable. However, I suspect that what stands a greater chance of being an issue is the effects on tonality of the interaction between the amp’s output impedance (which will differ between triode mode and ultra-linear mode), and the wide variation in the impedance of the speaker, within the range that is handled by the panels. Specifically, if you see this post prior to today’s audition I would suggest looking for signs of over-emphasis of the mid-range (where the impedance rises to around 18 ohms at 1 kHz), relative to the treble region (where as you realize the impedance gradually descends to very low values). That interaction, btw, will vary widely among different tube amps, due to the widely differing output impedances among different tube amps. And given also that the output impedance of the 88R does not appear to be specified, nor does its damping factor from which output impedance can be calculated, it’s particularly good that you have an opportunity to audition the specific amp/speaker combo. Best regards, -- Al |