What about a Hegel H590?
Sonus Faber Guarneri with SET amplifier -possible?
Hello,
is there any chance to drive new Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento with SET amplifier?
I think about something like Jadis SE300B.
It is 10 W per channel amplifier with two parallel 300B triodes at the output and oversized transformers.
It sound much more powerful than claimed 10 Watts.
I don’t like to listen very loud, don’t like to much of deep bass and have 2200 cu ft room (20’ x 15’).
The amp itself sound fabulous and I would like to get SF the best midrange possible.
Any ideas?
is there any chance to drive new Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento with SET amplifier?
I think about something like Jadis SE300B.
It is 10 W per channel amplifier with two parallel 300B triodes at the output and oversized transformers.
It sound much more powerful than claimed 10 Watts.
I don’t like to listen very loud, don’t like to much of deep bass and have 2200 cu ft room (20’ x 15’).
The amp itself sound fabulous and I would like to get SF the best midrange possible.
Any ideas?
14 responses Add your response
Right now, I am driving GH's with a 45watt/ch Jadis JA 30mk2. No problem whatsoever. How much power are you going to be getting from the 300BSE amp? I have come to the conclusion that although the G's do need some power, what is more important is a superb transformer upstream. OTOH, I still do not think a flea powered SET will have enough drive for these speakers, regardless of the quality of the transformer. |
SF Guarnier mememto, possible driving by power 300B SE These Memento’s, to me still not for a low powered 300B set, into that impedance and phase angle in the bass https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/807SFGFIG1.jpg Cheers George |
Sonus Faber Guarneri with SET amplifier -possible?Not if you want the best bass possible around 100hz. Because the SF’s have a 4ohm load combined with a -50 degree negative phase angle around that frequency, which the amp could see being as low as 2-3ohms. And with a SET is could sound a bit thin in this area. http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/807SFGFIG1.jpg Cheers George |
I listen to the Guarneri's with a Unison Research Preludio 14 watt tube and they sound beautiful with individual piano , violin or guitar music. I then switch over to a Devialet 1000 watt SS for everything else. The 1000pro has complete control of the Guarneri,s whereby the preludio can just give you that sublime midrange. I guess we can't have everything. |
Milimetr, I am currently using SF GH's; to drive them I am using a Jeff Rowland model 8 with choke and a CAT sig pre-amp. This combo works well because the G's are fairly inefficent and with tube pre-amp and a large ss amp they come alive. The G's seem to need at least 50+ watts in front of them. I have heard the G's with BAT amps at 50 watts/channel and they were just about able to drive the speakers although I could hear some strain. With 10W SET's, I suspect you will be overloading the amps most of the time. My room is pretty small and I can still get the amp pushed a little and we are talking 250 watts per channel! So, I suspect, that an ideal match in tubes would be in the order of 75 watts/channel minimum... something like the Tenor 75's or any of the bigger Jadis amps. Not as sweet as the SET Jadis 300's, but a much better match for the G's. |
I usedSF gauniere with mccomarcak dna 1 dlx after with AR VT100, so I bougjt ne gamut d200mk3 - very fast , the strigs the best I listened til now, than I used for some time audiopax 30 watts SET mono. I think this spekears need a lot of watts, better 200 watts or more , you can see the woofer moving like one wave from the speaker. I do not belive you can get a goosg sound from SF guaniere wit a SET, maybe a fantastic medium , but you will lost the bass, and microdinamics, the sensivity is 87,5Db, but I think the impedance curve is not very friendly with SET and few watts. I can not live with SS amplifier, but if I went back to guarniere I would have to chosse a excelent SS power ( classe A) and a fantastic tube preamplifier. One thing I know from SF guarniere, the most beatiful speaker I know , and the best speaker for strings. |
i power the guarneri memento's either with a mf kw500 or a vtl 5,5 preamp and quicksilver v4 combination. the quicksilvers deliver 120 watts only but are by far superior to the kw,s. the quicksilvers are elevated to a higher performance level with the ps audio ac3 power cords. soundstage depth and realism are remarkable using the latter combination. the guarneri's sound more powerful and realistic with the quicksilver combination than with the kw500,s. wr |
Thank you for the answers. I am currently driving Guarneri with Jadis DA88S integrated amp 60 W per channel with great results. The timbre and harmonic richness is to die for. I have this amp but Guarneri are not mine. I am thinking about feature development of my system. I have to decide where to go – more powerful push-pull monoblocks or more refined but low watts SET amplifiers. I decided that loudspeakers will solve this dilemma. If I find loudspeakers that really suits my taste I will know what amp will be next. I have on my short list loudspeakers with high efficiency (only dynamic) like Coincident Speakers, Living Voices, ART Loudspeakers, and much more with low efficiency like Sonus Faber Guarneri, Amati, ProAc Response and many others. So far Guarneri sounded best in my system, so I will rather stay with PP tubes and fine tune the timbre with tube rolling. |
Hi. I owned the Guarneri for several years. IMHO you will get beautiful timbre with an SET with a large power supply, but transient speed and bass will be slow. If you want to give it a go, you will need an SET with a big power supply. I found good results with a pair of Berning zh-270 monoblocs and a pair of Art Audio Quartets. I feel those have the minimum power for the Guarneri. You may want to consider a push pull design with zero or very low feedback. Some members feel the Guarneri really needs a good solid state amp with more than 200 watts to obtain fast transients. I generally don't lean toward the solid state sound, but I wanted to share their perspective. A compromise may be something like a kt90 100+ watt push pull amp with lots of current. In summary, I think a good SET will sound beautiful, but slow. A powerful solid state will sound fast, but lose some of the harmonic beauty of that speaker. So, I'd look for a 100+ watt push pull with low or no feedback and a big power supply. Good luck. Jeff |
Both are great gears. I recalled listening to Guarneri with low output transister amp. I didn't hear the midrange-to-die-for like when it's being driven with more powerful amps. You can try to supercharge it with Musical fidelity KW550. Again, listen first and decide, if you like it then no need to spend more. I'm just not sure it'd work. |