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What speakers for 300B S.E.T ??

Hi,

Recently i heard a 300B based Audio electronics SE-1 SET amp + AE-3 pre with Lowther Academy speakers & was quite impressed with the immediacy,dynamics,soundstaging
& basically the whole presentation.

Now i'm very keen to try this to see if this is the kind of sound i would enjoy for a long time.Only way to know this i guess is to try it at home for an extended period of time. My previous exrerience has been with high powered SS .
( For ref : Supratek Chardonnay tube pre + Mac MC352 + TDL Ref studio monitors ) This is my first venture into low powered SET. I love the sound of my present sys. but the SET is a different experience.

Un fotunately my present speakers( 87db ) would not support the 7 watts the AES is capable of. The Lowthers are too expensive to experiment with. My goal is to keep the costs
low as possible . I shall very much appreciate your recommendations for high-sensitive monitors or small floor-standers ( HORN ??? ) preferably under $1K . This could very well end up as a second sys or it could go further.....

So what does everyone use with less than 10 magic watts ????
dilly
s23chang
615 posts
 
87db usually requires at least 20~30 Watts. What about Impedance drop? That's very important. If it constantly drops down to 4 ohms then the amp definitely cannot handle the load. You need to look at the curve supplied by the speaker manufacture.

It will work but you'll not get as clear and dynamic sound since the power is mistached. If you crank it too hot then mostlikey that you might damage the amp.
beavis
272 posts
 
1. You want to stay away from a complex crossover (ie, first order &maybe second order, no third or fouth order). This is probably priority no. 1 as complex crossovers use quite a few watts.

2. Ideally, you want a speaker to be a flat 8 ohms (just like a resistor) but since this is next-to impossible, get a speaker w/o a wildly fluctuating impedance that stays above 4 ohms minimum. (In my experience, tubes do not like to be run using less than 4 ohms.)

3. Keep the volume level reasonable (tubes do have less severe clipping charicteristics, but none-the-less, they do clip). Medium efficientcy speakers driven with tubes DO NOT like to party.

My speakers are Spica TC-60. A good review is in December 1994 edition of Stereophile.

I have no experience with TDL speakers & couldn't find TDL website.
twl
3,251 posts
 
Dilly, try this link
http://kosat.consultit.no/~ketil/lowther/voigtpip.html

The dimensions shown in those plans are metric, and are INSIDE DIMENSIONS.

I have used the Lowther EX3 in this enclosure, and found it to be the best match, in my opinion. I also made some mods which would be important in getting the best bass response. Contact me if you are going to make these, and I'll give you the information you need to do this.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
In hooking up my 300B SET amps to my Silverline SR17 monitors (89 db) I've found they can play at very conservative volumes, but the limits of headroom approaches rapidly as you increase the volume to more engaging levels of listening (for me this is around 85-95db, but my wife claims I'm hard of hearing). At those levels that combination renders some very audible distortion when pressed. I would definitely not depend on that combination as my system unless it were a bedroom system for occasional low-level listening, or perhaps a background system. Either of these applications seem to me like a waste of a good amp(s), as well as some outstanding speakers in the case of the SR17's. For an 8watt SET system I'd keep my minimum efficiency worth considering more like 94db to give you a more practical application of those amps. I've had pretty good results with 90db floorstanders, but ultimately I'd want a bit more for my 8 watts.

Marco
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
Twl,

This looks like a very rewarding project. How do your speakers sound in comparison with other horns that you have heard?

Beautiful system, by the way.
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