@OP and Erik_Squires, I just took another look at the LS50 Meta's measurements - it has a couple of tough impedance/phase dips in the bass and low midrange and it's insensitive, so might not be the best choice for the amp in triode mode. However, the crossover design choices have yielded a really very fine set of measurements otherwise.
Basic question about sensitivity
Obviously I am mistaken, and I am positive that this has been covered before, but I had thought that the higher the number (sensitivity) the easier the speaker was to drive. However, when I read a thread in which someone is talking about a speaker they have or are interested in, I frequently do a cursory search and a little bit of reading about it, and, for example, a while ago I read a review & specs on the Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G with a sensitivity rating of either 90 or 91 (which I would have thought at one time meant it was a pretty easy load to drive) but the recommended amp was 100 to 250 wpc.
On the other hand, I just did a search and some reading on the Harbeth P3ESR XD which has a sensitivity rating of 83 (which at one time I would have thought meant it was a tough load to drive) but they are recommending amps "from 15 wpc".
What is the number listed for a speakers sensitivity actually meaning?
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@yoyoyaya , my amp does have 4 ohm taps. Do you think that might compensate for "tough impedance/phase dips in the bass and low midrange"? And what did you mean by
?
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@OP what I meant by polarising is that some people love LS50s and other's for some reason don't like them at all. In fact, that may be due to the fact that they are a tough speaker to drive. I went back and had a look at John Atkinson's measurements for your V12. On paper, even accounting for the 4 Ohm tap, they don't look like an ideal match for one another - due to the tough load and limited efficiency. However, a lot depends on what kind of music you listen to and what volume you listen at. |
@elliottbnewcombjr , if my memory serves me (and it may not), ARC was claiming that the VTM120s with four 6550s in each one were making 100 wpc. In retrospect, I think that they sounded great. They could rock the house or whisper real quiet or just play sweet and smooth. My aural memory is probably not the most accurate, but now I think that they probably outperformed my current Cary V12 that I replaced them with. What I did not like about them (and I am not at all saying that this is applicable to all ARCs or even all VTM120s) was their reliability (or lack thereof). Every so often (and by that I mean way more often than once in a blue moon) on start up one of them would blow a grid resistor. It usually sounded like a lady-finger firecracker going off, or maybe not quite that loud, but it meant I had to get whichever was the offending amp down, put it on a table, pull the bottom panel off, and desolder the blown resistor from the circuit board and resolder in another one, of which I started keeping several on hand (I seem to remember them being 75 ohm resistors). It wasn’t the end of the world, but it wasn’t a great way to start a listening session. It got to where I would cross my fingers and grit my teeth when I flipped the switches. And most of the time I got my wish and they started up without incident; but a failure happened often enough that it was always on my mind. By contrast, that Cary V12 that I replaced them with is super reliable. Occasionally it will blow an AC power fuse when I turn it on. Early in its life one of the output tubes went down, and a few years ago one of the signal caps failed, but all in all it is a very reliable amp, and I have had a lot of fun with it over the years. |
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