quandary: inefficient speakers, low-power amp

There are many things to consider here. First, don't worry -- you're not straining anything other than possibly your voice coils if in fact you were clipping your amp. I don't think that's the case. More likely, your passive controller is the first problem. The input sensitivity of the Anthem tube amp may be (I couldn't find the figure on the web) too low for your sources to drive it to full power. An active preamp or at least a TVC (transformer volume control with +6db of passive gain) is probably called for. By your description, I take it you're running your volume control wide open and still not getting what you want, which gives you the impression you're "straining" your system.

It would be helpful to know more about your room, with respect to size and furnishing characteristics to guess your perception of the dynamic range of your system. You certainly could use more power but may in fact not need it if you have some voltage gain in the preamp stage. You can figure your 40/40 watts of RMS power from the tube amp have a good 3db of headroom on bursts. Also, does your amp have 4ohm output taps from the transformers?

There are a lot of ways to get more power if you like your speakers, but many of them won't please you if you're accustomed to the qualitative aspects of your amp. You can try a pair of the excellent Channel Islands D100 or D200 monoblocks on home trial with return privileges, and that is a quite musical and affordable solid state option. Another thing is to consider much more efficient speakers, Such as Zu Druids (101 db/w/m) or something Omega, for example. You might be surprised how much better things sound when your power amp isn't squeezing sound through a speaker crossover.

Phil

by the list of your components, I tend to believe that you will be happier with different speakers along with the same amp. The choices you are given here by members might be better invested with an efficient design such as speakers from Green Mountain Audio, Living Voice and others.

I have and still own speakers that are inefficient, one of then being a pair of Infinity Kappa 9s, also Gershman X-1+SW-1s and a bear of an amp, DNA 225, but my present system set up is op chip amps at 40 watts with a fullrange 8" alnico driver in a massive TL cabinet. Much much better and faster sound than inefficient speakers could have offer and ironically, better control.

Bi amping might defeat the purpose of coherence and space issues. Would we want to add two more components to make one component work with another? It is trying too hard to make things work well.

Hey everybody, thanks for all the responses. Thanks especially to 231cobra for assuring me I'm not about to blow something up. I hope you're right!

The room is roughly 15' by 16.' Thick walls, medium-length carpet, lots of furniture. Definitely not "live" sounding.

The Audience 50s are a two-way standmount with only one set of binding posts, so biwiring is not an option. If I had tower speakers with different posts for woofers and tweet/mids I would definitely look at biwiring with the Anthem on top and something like an ATI on the bottom, but that's for another day.

Popular wisdom is that you need to hit the Dynaudios with gobs of serious power, but I've run them with two different SS amps in the 125-150 watt range and I have to say, the Anthem absolutely smokes 'em in every way. I wouldn't have believed it myself -- I bought the amp at what I thought was the end of my time with these speakers, but I hooked it up to the 50s just for kicks and was stunned by the sound. Mama mia! I do like the combo so it sounds like the pre is what I want to look at replacing next.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

Based on your room and alternate amp experiences, borrow if you have to and try an active preamp. Get some voltage gain going into your power amp, then tell us what you notice. I think the sources are not driving the input section of the Anthem power amp very well. Answer that question and you'll have a much better idea how to proceed.

Phil

It may be a more expensive experiment, and I cannot speak to actually reccomend the solution as being good or bad, but you might also consider Paul Speltz's Zero-Autoformers as a possible solution. They are essentially in-line (speaker cables) transformers that make your amp see the speakers as having 2X, 3X, or 4X the impedance. A more thorough explanation and reviews are available on the website. I have no experience with them to speak of. Actually I have a pair of them that belongs to my friend Peter, but I have not hooked them up. He may be selling his pair as he'd purchased them to use with his Quads (electrostatic speakers) and was not pleased with the results there. Your Dynaudios are a different animal though. Anyway, some folks like what these things do. Just two more pennies in your hat.

Marco