I second the comments that have been made by several people to the effect that the answer to the original question is speaker dependent. Winggo, I see that in a thread you started about a year and a half ago you mentioned having a pair of AR9 speakers. If those are the ones in question, given their vintage (1970s), their modest 87 db efficiency, their nominally 4 ohm impedance, and their high power handling capability, it is safe to assume that they were designed with solid state amplification in mind. As some of the others have said, the suitability of using high powered tube amplification will be significantly dependent on how the impedance magnitude and impedance phase angle of the speaker vary as a function of frequency. I couldn't find any indication of the speaker's phase angle characteristics, but according to this review their impedance magnitude is generally between 3 and 5 ohms, with peaks of 10 ohms at 750 Hz and 8 ohms at 27 Hz. In comparison with a solid state amp, a tube amp will tend to give slightly more emphasis to frequencies in those vicinities. Another point I would make is that IME a forte of tube amplification tends to be imaging and dimensionality. Although I have no basis upon which to be certain, my suspicion is that that is not a strong point of these speakers, and that potential benefit of tube amplification would likely be wasted on them. My bottom line guess is that these speakers would do reasonably well with something like one of the higher powered Rogue Audio tube amplifiers, but you would be likely to do just as well if not better with a somewhat lower priced solid state model. Regards, -- Al |
Jond, NOS tubes is a vast arena with different tiers, some are excellent others not so, there're numerous variables to consider. Here's the big picture, you're very happy with your system's sound and that's truly the bottom line. There're people with chronic frustration, indecision, and confusion who aren't really enjoying their systems. Be glad you're not one of them. If you always look forward to hearing music with your system, you're doing fine. Regards, |
