Amp advice sought for Coincident Total Victory


I had driven my Coincident Total Victory II's with 100 W el34's. Now It's a 12 W 300b. I like the tonal accuracy and low level detail much more but do miss two things about the higher powered amp. One is the ability to occasionally turn it up. The other is the headroom needed to to accurately reproduce the fast rise of, for example, a piano or drum. For me, the TV II's are just below the efficiency needed for 300b amplification. Does anyone have experience with a sub $4k used tube amp or amplifier topology that would be a good compromise?

Thanks in advance,

Dave
dbrewer12345

Showing 1 response by azaud

The eight watt Frankenstein is a different animal. I owned a pair a while back.
"Headroom" is simply a lack of constriction when a sudden, instantaneous need for current presents itself by way of the software, isn't it?. The output power of the amplifier is only part of the scenario.
I'm (primarily) a rocker; yet there was rarely a time when I felt the need for more power. The Frankensteins have so much current on demand so to speak, that I never felt that they got "flustered" when the music got complicated. Heck, the driver tube has it's own transformer and PS!
I think the Coincident speakers had something to do with this also. Mine were similar to yours, at 95db sensitive; but I think it was more the (lack of) impedance curve that played in the music's favor. The amps were so good that I think I would have reached for more speaker sensitivity before I went for more watts; but to be honest, the resolution and completeness were so good that early on I just ate the compromise in the gain department with a huge grin on my face.