Thank you, everyone, for your feed back.
I have heard the Super E's with the Atma-Sphere M-60's and liked them, but much preferred the MA-1 MkII's. (I heard he M-60's in my system and lived with the MA-1's for about three weeks.) Even the MA-1's had a little trouble lending a sense of weight and authority in the bass unless I moved the speakers closer to the wall behind them. Other than that, the Coincident Super E/ A-S MA-1 combination is stunning: fast, tonal/pitch rightness, frequency extension (both low and high), and soundstaging, etc. etc. All very good. None of those 'hifi' elements would matter if it did not sound much like music. With very careful cabling, tubing, and isolation for the MA-1's, the MA-1's powering the Super E's can sound so much like live music that it's spooky.
I had some discussions with Mr. Blume about this power requirement topic when I first bought the speakers. He recommended the Manley Ref 300B Retros and mentioned the 47 Labs Gaincard. The relatively high impedance of Coincident speakers would explain why some Solid State amps may not work well because SS amps generally apply more power with lowering impedance, but I run tubed amps. Mr. Blume is a very busy, accomplished man. My quandary with his speakers may have struck him as an anomaly because I may have unusual requirements. I just could not understand why my experience was so different from his and most of his customers.
Many Wilson speakers do have somewhat high sensitivity ratings, but I think they also have a 4-Ohm nominal impedance. This generally will favor, high powered, solid state amps--as far as I know. I owned the Chapman T7's: 90 dB, 4 Ohm. Although some people drove them with 40-watt 300B push/pull amps, the speakers also loved power! They came alive with the BAT VK500 and the Cary SLM-200's.
I noticed (on another thread) that some Super E users like the ARC VT100. This I can understand.
I also noticed that another Audiogon member bought Mr. Blume's own system (used for demonstrating the Total Eclipse, presumably). Member Sutts stated-I believe-that it used 170 watts on the bass modules of the Total Eclipses with additional amplification for the mids and tweets in a bi-amp config. And the 'Totals' are supposed to be even more efficient than the 'Supers' are. Does this tell you something about how the Super Eclipses really can shine?
I love the Super E's, don't get me wrong. I love them with power is all.
I have heard the Super E's with the Atma-Sphere M-60's and liked them, but much preferred the MA-1 MkII's. (I heard he M-60's in my system and lived with the MA-1's for about three weeks.) Even the MA-1's had a little trouble lending a sense of weight and authority in the bass unless I moved the speakers closer to the wall behind them. Other than that, the Coincident Super E/ A-S MA-1 combination is stunning: fast, tonal/pitch rightness, frequency extension (both low and high), and soundstaging, etc. etc. All very good. None of those 'hifi' elements would matter if it did not sound much like music. With very careful cabling, tubing, and isolation for the MA-1's, the MA-1's powering the Super E's can sound so much like live music that it's spooky.
I had some discussions with Mr. Blume about this power requirement topic when I first bought the speakers. He recommended the Manley Ref 300B Retros and mentioned the 47 Labs Gaincard. The relatively high impedance of Coincident speakers would explain why some Solid State amps may not work well because SS amps generally apply more power with lowering impedance, but I run tubed amps. Mr. Blume is a very busy, accomplished man. My quandary with his speakers may have struck him as an anomaly because I may have unusual requirements. I just could not understand why my experience was so different from his and most of his customers.
Many Wilson speakers do have somewhat high sensitivity ratings, but I think they also have a 4-Ohm nominal impedance. This generally will favor, high powered, solid state amps--as far as I know. I owned the Chapman T7's: 90 dB, 4 Ohm. Although some people drove them with 40-watt 300B push/pull amps, the speakers also loved power! They came alive with the BAT VK500 and the Cary SLM-200's.
I noticed (on another thread) that some Super E users like the ARC VT100. This I can understand.
I also noticed that another Audiogon member bought Mr. Blume's own system (used for demonstrating the Total Eclipse, presumably). Member Sutts stated-I believe-that it used 170 watts on the bass modules of the Total Eclipses with additional amplification for the mids and tweets in a bi-amp config. And the 'Totals' are supposed to be even more efficient than the 'Supers' are. Does this tell you something about how the Super Eclipses really can shine?
I love the Super E's, don't get me wrong. I love them with power is all.