2. amps-preamps
  3. 1355653102

Tannoy Westminster amp matching question.

Hello again everyone. Its been a while but I'd like your advice if possible.

I'm waiting for a pair of Tannoy Westminster royal SE's to arrive ( end of dec ). And I'm wondering what to amps to match them with. I have very limited funds at the moment(budget of 3k or so), having lashed out on the speakers, and I'm thinking I'd like to go SET power amps again. So looking at second hand bargains. At the moment I'm thinking Sophia Electric 300b or Art Audio symphony II. Alternative suggestions please !!!!

To give you an idea of my tastes. The system I've put together, that I enjoyed the most, was Avantgarde Duo's and Yamamoto A08s. Loved it. I listen to all sorts of music: Rock, choral, opera, jazz. Love well done female vocals :-)

Thanks for your time.
borg7x9
larryi
1,972 posts
 
Borg,

An amp with a 600 ohm input is designed to be used with a preamp with a transformer output (like professional gear in the old days). Without a matching transformer-output linestage, you can have severe problems with bass response. The amp was probably designed to be used with a specific linestage because transformer coupled gear is not that common these days.
borg7x9 OP
86 posts
 
Hi larryi,
What you describe is what I was finding. Almost no bass response. They do a matching 600ohm output linestage. If I cant make other Pre-amps work ( I'm trying the CAT sl1 tonight ) I may end up getting their matching amp. Its not too expensive in the scheme of things.

Thanks for your advice.
wylmars
56 posts
 
Mikeedimitrov - I hadn't consider a McIntosh. What is it that you believe makes the McIntosh/Tannoy Westminster work so well for you? And are you using a McIntosh pre-amp?
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
An amp with a 600 ohm input is designed to be used with a preamp with a transformer output (like professional gear in the old days).

FWIW our preamps can drive that load but have a direct-coupled output rather than a transformer.
larryi
1,972 posts
 
I have a capacitor coupled amp that can drive 600 ohms too reasonably well, but, it also is fairly high in gain (18 db) and has a massive 30 uf coupling cap. My friend said that the huge cap is what makes this linestage suitable.
More to discover