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Atma-Sphere amps with Eggleston Andra II's

I own a pair of Atma-Sphere MA2 Mk2.3 OTL monoblocks that are probably the one part of my system that will staying put for a long, long time. Currently, speakers are Dynaudio Confidence C2's. Preamp is an Atma-Sphere MP1 MkIII.

I'm looking to change/upgrade my speakers. As good as the C2's are, i.e., extremely coherent, very natural and detailed, nonfatiguing, they certainly don't have much "slam" factor. Now, I mostly listen to classical, jazz, and female vocals at moderate levels, but once in awhile still throw on some Cream, ZZ Top, Seger, ELP or whatever that demands some volume and presence in the low frequencies. I have been reading that the Andra II's can provide most, if not all, of the C2's traits but also add the missing lower octave and slam.

My question to Andra II owners is this: will 220 watts of OTL power drive the Andra II's properly? The MA2's can handle 4 ohm loads without difficulty as long as there are no crazy phase shifts. I am mainly concerned about running my amps dry.

TIA.

Bill
billspecfoc
talon4
185 posts
 
I own a pair of Andra 2's. I agree with Jtinn. The speakers need some power. French fries's Levinson 33h must have alot of current. I think the 33h are 150 watt @ 8 ohm. I've talked with Egglestonworks several times about amps and preamps. They recommend a good solid state amp in the 500 watt range. At CES, they were using the Pass Labs 600.5 mono blocks and they were very happy with the 600.5's. I'm using a 300 watt Jeff Rowland 302 amp and feel that I run out of power on occasion. I've had the Andra's up to a 97 db peak on my Radio Shack db meter. Normally, I run my amp between 85 and 92 db. You have to slightly push the amp, (or is it the speakers), to get a well balanced live sound. They are awesome speakers. The Andra's have excellent dynamics. I listen to alot of Pink Floyd, Cream, and Hendrix lately. Guitar especially sounds just like the real thing. Bass and synthesizer are excellent as well. The speakers are capable of room-(my room 14'w x 28'l)- shaking bass response. Great speakers, but probably not a good match with your current amps though. Good luck. Stan
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
I've only heard the Eggleston Andra IIs with the big MAC 1200 wpc monoblocks. As you can guess they rocked pretty darn hard. From listening, the speakers do like a lot of power.
1markr
525 posts
 
I totally agree that the Andras like a lot of power.

However, I'd have to question the need for 500w or more. I'm sure it depends on the amp, but I'm happily running my Andra IIs off of a BAT VK-500 amp w/ the BAT-PAK (250wpc into 8 ohms) and I have never felt that I need more power. They are firing into a decent sized room (25' x 20'). I occasionally listen at levels that average 95db, and on transient peaks, I notice no compression or clipping with this amp.

Perhaps a lot has to do with the amount of energy that the amp is able to store in its caps. The BAT with BAT-PAK stores a staggering 1100 joules vs. 350 joules with no BAT-PAK.

The speakers really do come alive above 85db, guitar and piano are simply stunning, and lifelike vocals to boot.
talon4
185 posts
 
1markr, I agree about the Bat having alot of reserve power. I used to have a Bat vk5i preamp that I was using in my current system and it had an unreal amount of reserve power for a pre. I also agree that the speakers come alive above about 85 db. The 500 watts is what Egglestonworks has said several times in conversation. Your mileage may vary. Stan
french_fries
735 posts
 
i don't know enough about atma-sphere amps or otl tube gear,
but all speakers have impedence dips, some go to 2 ohms for sure. but an amp with 220W should be able to comfortably drive
a wide range of speakers. i've used rowland m-12's (200W), a krell fpb-300, and a levinson 23.5 (200W) as well as the 33H
on the andras- even when they were series-I's- and NEVER was worried about having enough power.
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