High Sensitivity Speakers that work best with SS

Hi Mapman,

Interesting point by Ralph, which I haven't seen stated before.

There seems to be a fairly wide consensus that Daedalus speakers will be compatible with pretty much any amplifier known to man, apart from some of the very low power SET's. My Ulysses are 98 db/1W/1m, the figure for the smaller models being a bit lower. I wouldn't say that they would "work or sound better with SS amps than tube amps," but rather that they would be similarly compatible with both, and the differences in the character of what is heard would reflect the intrinsic differences between the amplifiers.

Part of the reason for that versatility is undoubtedly that their impedance curve is unusually flat. I believe that my Ulysses are roughly 6 +/- 1 ohms above 100 Hz, with a gradual rise to about 10 ohms below 100 Hz.

FWIW, although I and many others prefer tube amps with them, Lou Hinkley of Daedalus tends to prefer relatively high powered solid state, and frequently demonstrates them with Modwright solid state amps. Also, the Ulysses is the reference speaker that is used by Dan Wright of Modwright.

Best regards,
-- Al

01-18-13: Atmasphere
If you are using Voltage Paradigm design rules, it may well be that the speaker's crossover points will not work properly with all tube amps even though the speaker has a flat impedance curve. From what I've seen/heard of the Daedalus though I don't think that it is any concern in that regard.

Good point, Ralph. Agreed on all counts.

I suspect that the Daedalus efficiency is less than the 98 db figure stated.

That's a possibility, as far as I am aware, as the only numbers I have seen are the published specs. FWIW, I can say that my Ulysses and my 65 watt amp show no signs at all of approaching their limits while producing 105 db peaks at my 12 foot listening distance. Although that of course does not rule out the possibility that they might be a few db shy of the specified number.

Best regards,
-- Al