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tube amps and electrostatics

What kinds of experiences have people had mating tube amps to electrostatic speakers (full range and/or hybrids)? I love the sound of both separately, but am concerned about the reactance of electrostats with tube power. I already own the CJ CAV-50 and am looking to upgrade my speakers with something in the $2500 range. Thanx, Dave
dabble
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
"ARC Ref 150 has muscle power and a large reserve power supply, plus my speakers are reasonably sensitive (92 db)"

That's a pretty solid combo on paper that should be capable of delivering the goods with the right tweaks.

No system is inherently good. Its what you do with it (the "smart" tweaks) that matter.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
+1 Mapman
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
"12-09-13: Bifwynne
George, I did a web search for an article that explains EPDR."

Good to see someone is starting to grasp it, I posted (link) 2 graphs of the B&W802D one that shows the impedance and phase angle as separate measurement lines, and the other graph in red that shows them combined to give the actual EPDR load the amp is seeing.
Note the big difference at 60hz and at 700-800hz where the load the amp sees, drops to almost 1 ohm (EPDR) from 3ohms (non EPDR)
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/59228-class-d-amplification-explanation/#entry1010538
And look at the Wilson Alexia comment as well.

Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
These links will get you there better

B&W802D EPDR load
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/uploads/monthly_12_2013/post-106386-0-82896500-1386705003.jpg

B&W802D non EPDR load
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/uploads/monthly_12_2013/post-106386-0-58273700-1386705013.jpg

Cheers George
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
The B&W 802D is, FWIW, an excellent example of Voltage Paradigm technology.

The woofers are each 8 ohms, but also 3db less efficient than the 8 ohm mid range and tweeter. They are in parallel, which requires the amplifier to double its power into the woofer load. This brings their output up by 3db, causing them to match with the rest of the speaker.

Yet the spec on the speaker says they are 'nominally 8 ohms'!

The requirement of the speaker is such that almost any amplifier driving it will have to have a fair amount of feedback to do so. This will cause the amp to be un-naturally bright. IMO this makes the speaker a poor choice as you will not be able to find an amplifier that will actually cause the combination to sound like real music.

This is not true of ESLs.
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