How much is enough?

[GregLett]

Just how much Tube power is enough to drive a pair of Aeon I's.
The recommended range by ML. is 80-200 watts. Does
the Tube amp need to be in that range also?

 

[risabet]

Just how much Tube power is enough to drive a pair of Aeon I's.
The recommended range by ML. is 80-200 watts. Does
the Tube amp need to be in that range also?

90dB efficiency, I would go with the highest powered, best sounding amp I could afford, which I would do with any speaker. You can't have too much power!

 

[GregLett]

90dB efficiency, I would go with the highest powered, best sounding amp I could afford, which I would do with any speaker. You can't have too much power!

Well I have to have some guidelines. My first choice in amps is simply not affordable ARC mono blocs, second choice, PrimaLuna Prologue 7, might not
be able to handle the impedence swings of the ML, and might not have enough power.
I need a minimum power requirement, for example my SS amp will produce 200W at 4ohms. any ss amp I woild put on the logans would have to be able to do that. I have not played with tube amps much, so I don't know where I need to be power wise. I know a 15 to 20 watt amp won't do, the question is in tube land what would the minimum power requirements be to drive the ML's like it's been driven by a 200W amp?

 

[Bernard]

.........Well I have to have some guidelines. My first choice in amps is simply not affordable ARC mono blocs.........

I used to have a 50 watt/channel Copland tube power amp, and it was not enough to drive my SL3s adequately (ML states the same requirement: 80 - 200 watts). I ended up buying used ARC monoblocks (110 watts), and they drive the speakers extremely well; I was fortunate to get the ARCs for $2,000 on Audogon. I would say shoot for a minimum of 100 watts.

 

[Scumurculum]

I have tried the Mcintosh MC275 on my Aeon Is which are rated at 75W but are more 90w

I found normally it sounded fantastic however when the volume was up over 85db I found that the amp was beginning to stuggle at times.

My advice is that you need an amp at least 150w with lots of current to do the Aeons justice.

However if you are more a, say, jazz listener who listens at moderate volume levels then 70-100w would suffice. (I am more a Nine Inch Nails type of guy)

I love the tube sound, so my solution was to have a Primaluna Prologue 3 tube preamp with a Krell 300il serving power amp duties so I get best of both worlds.

 

[GregLett]

I used to have a 50 watt/channel Copland tube power amp, and it was not enough to drive my SL3s adequately (ML states the same requirement: 80 - 200 watts). I ended up buying used ARC monoblocks (110 watts), and they drive the speakers extremely well; I was fortunate to get the ARCs for $2,000 on Audogon. I would say shoot for a minimum of 100 watts.

Thanks Bernard I guessed that would be it. I'll just have to save my pennies so that I can get the monoblocs I want, or get extremely lucky on a purchase

 

[GregLett]

I have tried the Mcintosh MC275 on my Aeon Is which are rated at 75W but are more 90w

I found normally it sounded fantastic however when the volume was up over 85db I found that the amp was beginning to stuggle at times.

My advice is that you need an amp at least 150w with lots of current to do the Aeons justice.

However if you are more a, say, jazz listener who listens at moderate volume levels then 70-100w would suffice. (I am more a Nine Inch Nails type of guy)

I love the tube sound, so my solution was to have a Primaluna Prologue 3 tube preamp with a Krell 300il serving power amp duties so I get best of both worlds.

The volume is mood dependent Some days i like to crank it. I have the Prologue three, I wanted the entire set, but you know the story there. I'm actually hoping that the dialog series mono blocs have a lot more power than the prologue series.

 

[Cherian]

Two words "Bi-amp". SS for the woofer and tube for the panel. Save you a ton of money.

 

[Scumurculum]

I'm like you, probably 80-90% of the time the valve amp would have been great but sometimes, especially when the wife is out, I love to absolutely crank it.

I think 2 MC275s set up as monoblocs would be audio nirvana but way too much money.

good luck on you seach for tube heaven. As I have an almost identical system, I would be interested to see how you go.

 

[Bernard]

I'm like you, probably 80-90% of the time the valve amp would have been great ..........

When I had the 50 watt/channel tube Copland I borrowed a 100 watt/channel SS Copland from my ML dealer (pays to give a local dealer your business, so he lends you stuff); the deal was I would try it for a week. When I took it back after 3 days he greeted me with a laugh, saying, "Bernard expected solid state to be as good as tubes". It was more powerful, but sounded (to me) like hell.

 

[GregLett]

I will let you guys know what I come up with thanks.

 

[risabet]

I will let you guys know what I come up with thanks.

Check these out. A great match for MLs and very affordable

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD1000.html

 

[GregLett]

Check these out. A great match for MLs and very affordable

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD1000.html

Those look good. Do you have them?

 

[Cherian]

Risabet did a very nice review of them in the amplifier section of the site.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=3647

 

[tonepub]

Watts are watts. "Tube watts" aren't more powerful than solid state watts, though many people will tell you this.

What is different between tube amplifiers and transistor amplifiers is the way they sound when driven to distortion. The tube amps have a softer clipping/distortion characteristic than most transistor amps.

With a high resolution speaker like the ML, usually what you will hear with a tube amp driven to clipping is not as much of a harsh, grainy sound, but the soundstage kind of collapsing and going flat when it runs out of juice. Then of course if you push it further it starts to sound harsh as well.

 

[GregLett]

Watts are watts. "Tube watts" aren't more powerful than solid state watts, though many people will tell you this.

What is different between tube amplifiers and transistor amplifiers is the way they sound when driven to distortion. The tube amps have a softer clipping/distortion characteristic than most transistor amps.

With a high resolution speaker like the ML, usually what you will hear with a tube amp driven to clipping is not as much of a harsh, grainy sound, but the soundstage kind of collapsing and going flat when it runs out of juice. Then of course if you push it further it starts to sound harsh as well.

Understood.

 

[GregLett]

Two words "Bi-amp". SS for the woofer and tube for the panel. Save you a ton of money.

Wouldn't this pose some sort of mismatch problem for the pre?

 

[JohnA]

They'd need to have the same gain obviously.
If at least one of them has adjustable gain then you could bring them in synch. I'd use a cd with testtones and a decibelometer, no big deal.

 

[DTB300]

They'd need to have the same gain obviously.
If at least one of them has adjustable gain then you could bring them in synch. I'd use a cd with testtones and a decibelometer, no big deal.

Or you could use a Marchand product to help with the gain

 

[GregLett]

That sounds complicated. Is there a way to measure the gain?
Would an external cross over of some sort be better?
hummm not so sure I want to go down that road.
I have enough problems