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If you love SET amplifiers, boy do I have speaker for you.

I have had in-house for the last six weeks a pair of speakers that I'm reviewing for hometheaterreview.com from NSMT Loudspeakers, located in North Carolina, that are a perfect match with SET amplifiers.  I love SET amps.  However, historically I'm not a fan of single driver designs (rolled off high-end/lack of bass) or horn designs (I find them to have coloration that annoys me after a short while) that are normally used with beautiful sounding SET "Flea Watt" amps.  I have reviewed both types of speakers and they were good, but not keepers for me because of the above stated reasons.

The NSMT Model 50 is a small very attractive floor-stander which has an sensitivity rating of 101 dB and never dips below 8 ohms.  It is a three driver MTM two way design that loads into a double transmission line and really reaches down to 35Hz to 20 kHz in my room.  This is the third speaker I have reviewed from NSMT, the other two were wonderful music makers, and shows what a talented designer that Erol Ricketts is in all his designs at applying his unique version of transmission line loading. 

Now, the Model 50 sounds terrific with high power SS or tube based amplification.  But what has been enchanting for me is when I drive it with either a SET 2A3 amplifier, around 3.5 watts, or my Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL as an integrated using the NOS 1940's Tung-Sol 6SN7 black glass oval plate tubes which produce only around 1 Watt.  With either amplifier this speaker completely disappears, the beautiful colors/timbres just float out and 3D chunky images of the players fill the soundstage.  However, because of the very high sensitivity of the Model 50 and its transmission line loading the foundation of the music, true deep bass, and overall dynamics/dB levels are hard to believe.

So, if you have or always wanted to try out a SET amplifier this speaker is a great choice.  The Model 50 retails for $1,800.00 a pair, so they are very affordable to team-up with your SET amplifier.  If you want a lot more details just go to NSMT-loudspeakers website.    
teajay

Showing 4 responses by brownsfan

brownsfan
1,238 posts
 
This looks like a real find.  Driving a speaker with a 6SN7 is mind boggling.  When and where can we see your review, teajay?
brownsfan
1,238 posts
 
@teajay I could not agree more with respect to your comments regarding the virtues of the 6SN7, though I have not had the opportunity to evaluate that Tung-Sol oval plate to which you refer.  There are some great NOS 6SN7's that are still affordable. I have never really been satisfied with the musicality of a system that did not have the 6SN7 somewhere in the chain.  

I might take a look at the MicroZOTL amp.  This idea really fascinates me.   I will be looking for your review.
brownsfan
1,238 posts
 
@mikirob Congratulations on your retirement!  As for Geezerhood, that is more a matter of lifestyle choice than employment status.  I am still enjoying retirement.  We chose wisely with respect to our relocation to eastern Tennessee, and I think we also chose wisely with respect to the decision to retire early.  It is hard to believe it has now been almost 5 years.  As an added bonus, now I can actually really enjoy watching my Browns again for the first time since the late 80's. 
@charles1dad, Thanks for your summary of the LTA Micro vs the Franks.  I'm not really interested in building a 3rd system, so anything else I might bring in would need to displace the Franks/Triumph Extreme II combo in the second system.   A low cost 101 dB efficient speaker like the 50's opens up some avenues for exploration, but I want to choose wisely.
brownsfan
1,238 posts
 
@charles1dad Merry Christmas to you and yours.  Don't want to veer teajay's post off course, but you do see my dilemma clearly.  The Franks are special amps, and I recently found a used pair of EML XLS tubes which are a step up from the Psvane T's that I used after failure of the Elrogs.  The Franks really make the Triumph Extreme IIs sing, and those little monitors were woefully under appreciated in my opinion.  I have little doubt that a bit of work on the crossovers will elevate them considerably.  Beating that combo without spending a lot more money than I can recover from them on the used market is a long shot.  But I have a long standing longing to find out what the hype is all about with 45 or 2A3 power tubes, and those NMSTs look like a steal at $1800.  It is really an intriguing (perhaps ingenious) design.  I've said this before.  There is just too much good stuff out there.  
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