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Paul Klipsch was right - What the world needs is a good 5 watt amplifier

For those who are questioning whether a low power high quality amp would be able to properly drive any speakers I've recorded a short video demonstrating very high SPL level from a speakers with average sensitivity. The video is of very low audio and video quality as its recorded from my smartphone. However, the microphone used for measuring the sound pressure is MiniDSP UMIK-1 and the software used is REW (Room EQ Wizard). During the tests the amplifier didn't show any hint of stress of distortion

The speakers used in this video are Sonus Faber Olympica II and the integrated amplifier is Pass Labs INT-25. According to some third party reviews the Olympica's are thought load for the partnering amplifier as their sensitivity is averagely rated (88db) and the impedance curve drops down to 3 ohms in the bass region with a estimated EPDR (the point where the impedance curve is intersecting with the phase angle) of 1.6 ohms. The pass labs is rated at 25wpc @ 8omh and is said to be stable down to 1 ohm doubling its power at 4 and 2 ohms. According to the manual it can deliver 200wpc @ 1ohm before the protection circuit is activated. 

So, the point of the video is to show that the Pass with its poorly rated power (25wpc) can drive even demanding speakers to insanely loud levels without any sound degradation. 

  

 

celestial__sound

Showing 3 responses by russ69

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,573 posts
 

A good 5 watt amp is still a 5 watt amp. There are many systems where that will not be enough power. 

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,573 posts
 

Jason has all the measurements to prove it

The measurements were outstanding but that doesn’t tell us how it sounds and to be fair he only listened to it on a single 400 buck speaker so maybe not the last word in definition. Correction, he bought it new for 160 bucks. 

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,573 posts
 

I'm not even sure my Klipschorns would be happy with less than the 8wpc my 300B amps provide.

I know some people like low power amps (single digit output) but even at lower volumes higher power amps can work better. I use 25wpc tube mono blocks on my main system and it's enough for me. I have used low power chip amps but they fall far short. I think some are satisfied with what they hear but I assume they my be ignoring the benefits of higher power or in the case of a quality tube amp, they sound more powerful than their low power rating suggests. 

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