Class A bias, speaker sensitivity, watts...?


Hello

Please help me understand the relationship between Class A bias and wattage output. I recently bought a used Vincent Audio SV236MK used for a great price. The specs state 150 watts into 8 ohms, 250 into 4 ohms, and the first 10 watts being Class A @ 8 ohms.

My speakers are Sonus Faber Lumina II which are rated as 4 Ohm with 86db sensitivity. Everything is set up in my small cube shaped office. I used a DB meter on my iPhone and found that when I turn the volume up to what I consider to be "loud" the peak measurement I get is 80db and under.

 

Given the specs above, am I hearing mostly/all Class A watts while listening?

craigvmn

Showing 1 response by agwca

Would like to try a really accomplished class A someday but don't want to deal with heat.  Same with tubes I suppose.  Purportedly, some class D can sound very class A like and that could be the best option.

But if space suffers, instrument sep. and stage depth isn't there, I wouldn't like it overall regardless if how smooth it sounded.

If you have 10 watts of class A, it should perform well at both low to moderate SPLs including dynamic swings.  The occasion peaks into class AB, etc probably wouldn't be audible until you turn it up to louder levels and at that point, its hard to listen too for longer periods of time and without risk to hearing.