Tube amp to drive Dali ms5

Very happy with a McIntosh MC2102 driving my MS5's.

This speaker is not the best combination with tubes as it is low impedance (4 ohms) and low efficiency (86 db; their website claims a sensitivity of 89 db, but when you correct for the 4 ohm impedance and calculate for power rather than voltage the 86 db figure is correct).

So unless you have a small room you need a lot of power (200 watts or more) and tube power is expensive. However with the right amp I would expect it to be impressive- Dali makes very good loudspeakers.

Because you need some power, the larger VTL, Convergent, Atma-Sphere or possibly ARC amplifiers are the sort of thing you want to consider.

If you have a smaller room it might be a very different story... how big is your room and how lively is it?

I have the utmost respect for Ralph's input, just wondering if actual application when powering the Dali's is not entirely represented by the numbers?

This from Dali when I was looking to power my Euphonia MS5's; I went from SS to tubes as recommended and consequently just fell in love with what tube amplification did for my speakers. My amp is the McIntosh MC2102 w/ 100 or so watts per ch., and as they say at Bentley "power is sufficient".

John:

The MS 5's perform best with tubes (IMHO). The flat impedance curve of the MS 5's, and virtually zero impedance phase shift, provides an extremely fat, easy curve for the amplifier to drive.

As a result, tubes power the MS 5's effortlessly, and the sonic performance is outstanding.

Best of all, due to the high speed of the DALI low-loss drivers, very little is sacrificed in terms of mid to low-end speed in exchange for the sweet bloom of the tubes.

A perfect match!!

Best wishes,

Ben
Ben Gosvig
National Sales Manager
DALI USA

so maybe I should go solid state what are your recommendations in brands that might match up with the speakers

If the Euphonias are like their other speaker lines, those 4 ohms might be very flat. I've heard the Helicon 400's (also listed as 4ohm) driven by 80 wpc tubes and I didn't think anything was lacking.

I have a friend who runs his Dali Helicon 400MK2 with an
Audio Research VS 115. This combo is very nice and I would
have no trouble recommending it. The 400MK2 and MS5 seem to
have similar specs so it could be an option worth exploring.

Good luck

If the Dalis have as flat an impedance curve as suggested (as the Megalines do) that will help with the use of a tube amp.

None of our customers have reported any feedback (we have excellent feedback on the Megalines) so I am only going by the numbers on their website. 86 db is pretty inefficient, but if they are being conservative and stating their numbers (89 db, 2.83V/1 meter + 4 ohm impedance= 86db 1 watt/1 meter) from the bottom of their curve, the speaker may be easier to drive than their website suggests. A lot of course depends on the room and listening habits!

ARC 75 would be one of the safest ones to buy blind.