Egglestonworks Andra II: How difficult a load?


I'd like to upgrade to these speakers. They will be paired with Cary CAD 211 AE monoblocks in a 20ft x 25ft room. Will I have enough power to drive them given their 4ohm load with 89dB efficiency? I like to play loud rock at times, although I mostly listen to jazz/blues/pop at moderate volumes. Unfortunately, I'm buying used and I can't audition them with my amps.

Thanks all.
robal

Showing 2 responses by ajahu

It is very difficult to give any opinion in these principally individual and perception based hobby. What is dynamic for one, could be sleepy and boring for other. A friend of mine has the Egglestonworks Andra II. He was really struggling to kick out dynamism and attack from these monsters. These are very difficult speakers. He had first Antique Soundlab 600 watt tube monoblocks, recommended by Salvatore, for difficult speakers. He had a nice flowing musical soundprint, but with somewhat pompous, slow bass. Whenever he came over to hear my old and outdated active speakers, he went home saying that his system is just not up to the task to deliver dynamism and attack. He changed his power amps to Spectorn Musical IIISe. Still, he felt that the Andras still were sluggish and boring. Finally, adding an another Spectron and converting them into monoblocks and thus pumping whopping 1800 watts he finally arrived to the same level of dynamism what an old active speakers could deliver. Rest of his gears are a nice vinyl rig and EMM Labs digital rig. I hope this helps.
Dev, this is a very subjective hobby. But, the most critical link, according to my opinion, is to find the right amplification for a given speakers. That is where the crucial synergy necessary. If one does not have the right synergy, no source or cabling or any other typical high-end sound treating tricks helps. My goal was to support Kurt-tank opinion, and warn Robal that he may need to invest heavily into amplification, especially if he likes blues/pop and not lush and romantic sound of violin sonatas. Actually, your example is also underlines this opinion. I am sure that with 600 watt monoblocks you also don"t not have any problem to drive these speakers. But may be there are some differences between a 100 watt tube amplification and 600 watt solid state monsters.