High-efficiency speakers and high-power amps?


I've been wondering what's up with single-driver, high-efficiency speakers, but my current rig is quite the opposite: low-efficiency speakers with high-power amps. Is there any reason why I couldn't -- or shouldn't -- try out a pair of high-efficiency, single-driver speakers, without buying a new amp, just to see what I think? If I were to plug in a pair of, say, Omegas or Zu speakers, would I get a sense of what all the fuss is about by simply keeping the volume turned down low, or would I be missing something unless I were running little 6.7-watt tube amps, or some such?

Thanks.

-- Howard
hodu

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

If you have a push-pull amp (unless its one of ours) the distortion will increase at a certain minimum power level maybe 5 or 10 watts) and then *increase* at power levels below that.

The distortion is audible and obscures low level detail. This will *seem* to make the larger amp seem less detailed, and happens whether it is a tube or transistor amp.

This is why smaller amps are often used on higher efficiency loudspeakers.

SETs and our amps are built in such a way that distortion decreases linearly to zero as power is decreased. This makes such amplifiers a good match when used on high efficiency speakers. You might often be using less than a watt most of the time- and with no distortion (or so little as to be unmeasurable) the result will be greater transparency and 'magic'.

Of course its not really magic, its just physics :)