2. speakers
  3. 136836-87683

Matching Speakers to amp

I currently own a PSA Stellar 300 paired with Focal Aria 926. I just picked up a used pair of Quad S-5 and I will be comparing the sound. I am not good a using technical specs to compare so I could use some help if anyone has the time to take a look at the amp & speaker specs below and give me some feedback I would greatly appreciate.
The basic question is: from a specification standpoint which speaker pairs up with the Stellar 300 best?


Stellar 300
Gain30.5dB +/-0.5dB Sensitivity for rated output power1.01V Noise1kHz@300 Watts <-100dB Input impedance S300Unbalanced 50KΩ
Balanced 100KΩ Input impedance M700Unbalanced 50KΩ
Balanced 100KΩ Output Impedance50Hz, 2.8VRMS <0.007Ω Damping factor50Hz. 2.8VRMS
8Ω >1100
4Ω >550 Frequency Response@2.8VRMS
10Hz – 20KHz +/- 0.5dB
10Hz – 50KHz +0.1/-3.0dB
Output PowerBoth channels driven 120vac mains, 1kHz, 1% THD 8Ω140W minimum 4Ω300W minimum 2Ω Stable for musical transients

Quad S-5
General description 3-way floorstanding speaker
Enclosure type ABR
Transducer complement 3-way ABR 165mm x3 Bass driver 165mm Woven Carbon fibre Cone x2
Midrange driver 125mm Woven Carbon fibre Cone Treble driver 12 x 45 mm
True Ribbon Sensitivity (2.83V @ 1m) 90dB
Recommended amplifier power 25-175W Peak SPL 112dB
Nominal impedance 6Ω
Minimum impedance 3.2Ω
Frequency response (+/-3dB) 42Hz ~ 23kHz Bass extension (-6dB) 35Hz Crossover frequency 570Hz & 3.2kHz

Focal 926
Speaker driversTwo 61/2" (16.5cm) Flax bass61/2" (16.5cm) Flax midrange1" (25mm) Al/Mg TNF inverted dome tweeterFrequency response (+/- 3dB)45Hz - 28kHzLow
frequency point - 6 dB37HzSensitivity (2.83V / 1m)91.5dBNominal impedance8 OhmsMinimum impedance2.9 OhmsRecommended amplifier power40 - 250WCrossover frequency290Hz / 2400Hz











128x128jbuhl
Post removed 
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
Hey George.  Yup, for those speakers I would probably pick the Parasound 2250 over the A23 (even though the A23 has XLR I puts and higher resolution), because of the larger power supply in 2250.  Also, the 2250 is no slouch either.

jbuhl, both the Rotel and outlaw are only about 120 or so watts.  I’m sure these or the Parasound A23 would play just fine, but still are somewhat light in the power supply for the Focal speakers.

theres an Odyssey Khartago on eBay with larger upgraded power supply, current bid $500.  I don’t know how high it will go, but this would be an excellent choice.
dishman442
32 posts
 
Consider a Odyssey Khartago stereo amp used. These pop up for $600 occasionally. AB amp, big power supply, easily doubles wattage down to 2 ohms, high amperage. Huge soundstage, sweet sounding high frequencies. Made in Indiana, they have an upgrade path to take them from exceptional to world beater. They also have a program to upgrade to monoblocks for a reasonable price. 
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Odyssey Khartago on eBay with larger upgraded power supply, current bid $500.


Consider a Odyssey Khartago stereo amp used. These pop up for $600 occasionally.

These could also be good, as I believe they also use bi-polar output transistors as well and decent power supply to get some current flowing.

But there’s a ? for me on the mono blocks, from couple of models I saw that came through, they were just stereo amps that were bridged.
+More watts
-More distortion
-Less damping factor
-less stable into low impedance’s.

Cheers George
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
I would only recommend an Odyssey stereo amp if it had the power supply updgrade (which the one on ebay does).  The basic Odyssey Khartago only has 60,000uf capacitor bank (which is not much more than A23) and a small 400va transformer.
More to discover