When you mentioned 80db at your listening position I’m assuming you mean peak not average, which isn’t all that loud. The power needed to increase volume is logarithmic, you can still get to relatively loud levels with low power. Tubes also soft clip so it could be cheating to get to 80 and you might not even notice. Try hitting 90 or 95 db peaks and you’ll quickly realize why you originally had them paired with the Forte. I’d also be much more concerned with damaging the speakers then the amp. Clipping of any type is not good for voice coils. I’ve paid to replace a few drivers once. Learned my lesson. Be really careful with low wattage amps. They may have sounded great at the time and then you come back the next day and certain songs don’t sound quite right. Then comes the fear and panic. It’s not pleasant.
Speaker Efficiency
I have been listening to my Decware 300b tube amp for a few months now. At 8 watts, I have them paired with Klipsch Forte IV at 99db efficiency, and this set up has been sounding great. This morning I connected a pair of Sonus Faber Electa Amator speakers, 6ohms at 88db of efficiency. They sound fantastic, with more weight and depth. I understand there is a huge price difference in the two speakers, but aside from that, if I am getting 80db of volume at my chair, 8' away, what is the draw back of using lower efficiency speakers with SET amps, so long as the volume is sufficient? I did notice turn the Pre amp, the tube amp and the Roon volume towards the highest setting, it starts sounding terrible....
Showing 2 responses by perkadin
@marktheshark I think you already have one of the best speaker matches (Forte) for the Decware. As others have mentioned, thanks to the ambiguity of speaker sensitivity ratings (adjusted for impedence? echoic vs anechoic?) many speakers measure far below their rated spec, Klipsch Heritage lineup included. However that said, the Heritage speakers are still among the highest sensitivity speakers I’ve seen independently tested. The Forte IV reached 95.2, and the larger models hit 98+. The o/96 was measured by Stereophile at 91db. The 98db efficient AN-E Lexus Sigs? They measured 92.5. Still good, but the dropoff from the Forte will be noticeble with only 8 watts on tap, and if its my money I’d look at La Scala’s first. They smoke the Devore & Audio Note at that price point. The only one on your list that’s interesting to me is the Spatial and that is a different sound altogether. You’d need also need a higher powered push pull design or SS amp, along with the space to make dipoles work. Lots of changes you might not have anticipated. |