Audio Research and Martin Logan Montis


My 21 year old solid state amp is developing some hum issues and the price to ship and fix it would be more than the value of the amp. Has anyone had any experience driving the Martin Logan Montis with Audio Research amps.
the Montis is rated at 4 0hms, but it varies widely, down to .5 ohms. It is pretty sensitive at 91 db. Am considering buying a Ref 75 before the upgrade.
Regards,
Robert
tennisdoc40

Showing 1 response by philipwu

hi everyone,
I have an opinion about the above technical aspects which senior fellows here were discussing. I have no electrical background but wish to express something which maybe important and overlooked.

We had seen many varieties of impedance coupled with varying phase angles charts, especially from ESL speakers when they behave like a giant cap into high freq.
When some audiophiles describe tubes amp suit well for ESL, we are assuming the tubes would handle the voltage & current needs well, at a certain range of frequencies. because, generally tubes cannot provide enough high current into magnetic coils when required for high excursion of speaker drivers into low bass.

Now, I do not know how tubes behave given the ever changing phase angle in relation to impedance,(voltage leads or lags before/after the current), but I suspect that tube can offer more "fluctuation" or "more tolerant" to out of phase signals when required by the speaker to produce music. I believe tubes are naturally more "forgiving"(tubes can give more voltage without rising current) as compared to output transistors when facing these out of phase requirements posed by speakers, especially ESLs. I guess transistors usually have a tighter range to work with electrical signal. transistors are generally linear devices am I right? my bet is that transistors work best when voltage and current are output simultaneously(meaning linear), to provide the power needed by speakers, so if transistors need to work beyond its specification(non-linear), it would clip even before it reaches its full rated power(watt).

base on above assumption, I perceive that tubes would better suited for ESLs but there are caveats, that's the songs the listener is playing should not contain low bass & high notes i.e. no punching bass, no high pitch like triangles or in harps/flutes etc.. (please also bear in mind tubes are slower in response, transistors are faster)

just my two cents.