preamp
Many that know, that this amp the OP is using, as good as it is, has no chance of driving the 2ohm EPDR load that these speakers present in the bass. And the Stereophile measurements and JA’s quotes prove it! Your pushing your own balanced preamp agenda by asking the OP "Do you know if its internally balanced or is the XLR connection just there for convenience?" It won't help his problem one iota. Just too obvious. |
vishu OP Like I said the amp and speakers are both individually fine pieces of equipment just not together. As John Atkinson said in Stereophile when he measured the Sopra's, your going to need an amp with far more current than what your have to drive the bass properly, this will completely change the tonal balance, control and quality your hearing, to one that the speaker manufacturer intended you to hear. Your just going to go round in circles unless you tackle the root of the problem, throwing money away at things like preamps balanced or otherwise ect is just a big furphy and waist of money, and will not fix your root problem. Cheers George |
vishu It’s not the preamp that’s the problem. It’s a great amp the Auris Forte 150 tube amp, unfortunately it’s with the wrong speaker, which btw is also a great speaker but with the wrong amp.. These Focal’s of yours are a very good speaker, and though quite efficient at 89db and can work with amps of just 50watts they need to have very good current to get the best from the bass. https://www.stereophile.com/images/417FSop3fig1.jpgYou need an amp that is >50w into 8ohm and can come "close" to doubling that 100w into 4ohm and again 200w into 2ohm to get the very best out of these Focal Sopra 3’s. That means solid state amp or a big tube amp with low output impedance that has a 2ohm speaker tap. As that minimum impedance and - phase angle the Sopra’s have in the bass, can look like a 2ohm epdr load to the amp. Cheers George |
