Hyperion HPS 968 or Coincident Total Victory IV

Sorry, Dave, but oversimplification doesn't make one smarter.

Yes, we will agree that "16 watts is 16 watts" - only a moron could argue otherwise.

However:

- The beefy class A power supply of a SET is able to supply 16W continuous with no problems.

- It is well-known that SET amps are able to swing more voltage than their max wattage rating would imply for brief periods

- When they do clip, it is entirely benign and recovery is very fast.

The end result is that in the real world, a 16W SET can power speakers that the average, or even very good, class AB solid-sate amp of a similar power rating could never hope to.

Chamber music only?? How can you possibly think you can draw conclusion like this when you have evidently NEVER HEARD THE COMBO but I have OWNED it? Not to mention the two different reviewers who said things very differently?

Here are some numbers for you that you should be able to understand:

A 90 dB/W speakers gives you 90 dB with one watt input at 1m.

Adding the second speaker gives you another 3 dB - 93 dB.

Moving back 2.5M drops you about 10 dB - so at a typical listening distance we now have 83 dB with 1W.

86 dB with 2@, 89 dB at 4, and 92 dB at 8W.

I don't know how you listen, but 92 dB average SPL is PLENTY loud for most people on most music.

But wait - these are anechoic figures! We have totally ignored room gain, which as anyone who knows anything about acoustics will tell you is VERY substantial in any typical room.

Sorry to be blunt, but for someone to use their theoretical musings to tell people with actual experience that they're wrong and don't know what they're are talking about is really amazing.

Thankyou Paulfolbrecht and Treljia very good info .

Abill

I'm going to offer a few more comments for the benefit of the OP.

I really dug that Hyperions/211 combo. With the exception of a bit of bass bloominess - that 95% of ported enclosures suffer from - it did everything right. Or so I thought. Anyway, the Hyperion drivers are very, very smooth in the mids and highs, and the speakers flattered all music.

However, coming off of Lamhorns, I felt that dynamics were stifled - and I shouldn't have been surprised by that, and wasn't.

That was why I procured the 200W monos - I wanted to find out if it was a lack of power. IT WASN'T. The speakers were unable to reproduce strong macrodynamics, like an efficient horn can, no matter how much power they were fed.

I then setup my AER Lamhorns with the 938s for some back to back. I recall playing one track in particular - Barber's Mourning Grace - and the difference in the percussion impact between the two speakers astounded me. I decided that no matter how *good* (pleasant) the Hyperions sounded, I couldn't live with a speaker that so stifled dynamics.
In my quest for speakers that preserved the proper macro dynamics of acoustic instruments but did not suffer from any of the weaknesses (which, frankly, can be very small) of SD horns, I came upon two setups that met the challenge: Audio Note AN/Es and Supravox field-coil drivers on OB.

I've never had the pleasure of serious time with the Hornings or any time with the Carder speakers.

16 watt SET is a hi-power SET;) Not all loudspeakers require massive power. If designed right 16 watts can sound as powerful dynamic as 1000 watts. But no free lunch loudspeaker will be large costly. I listen to most every type of music I feel no limits to what I play or at what SPL range.

here is a thread discussing the inability to get replacement parts for the hyperion 938, i don't know about the hyperion 968.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=63562.0