Beyma 12P80ND + TPL-150

Unless you want to play it on Wembley Stadium , 7.5 watts on a 99 dB tweeter should be more - much more - than anyone should ever need. Ever.

My amp is a clone of the Sun Audio 2A3, modded to use 45 tubes as these sound more relaxed and detailed than the 2A3. I am slowly exchanging the insides for military grade components. It has 200W transformers and the 7.5W rating is much more powerful than e.g. 15W on a T-amp. So yes, it should work.

Angelo's current favourite amp for the Beyma TPL-150 is the Hiraga Le Monstre. It has 8W, class A.
Info: Jean Hiraga - Le Monstre 8W Class A Power Amp

I am looking forward to hear about his next contendor. The Japanese clones of the 300B Western Electric monoblocks seem to cost 16000NOK/~2000 Euro per unit. Good for beginners, they write. :)
 
So 7.5W is more than 15W ?

There seem to be differences in the way they rate a T amp and a tube amp. I am sure you know more about it than me. :)

I can really cram it with the tube amp and the t amp runs out of juice pretty early and lacks authority in bass.

There may exist improved versions of the T amp with better power supplies. It is a very clean amp but I can't use it as a guitar amp. The T amp seem prone to distortions if you feed it a too strong signal via level input. The T amp chip has a certain sound or raspy coloration, but still very transparent. Note: It will burn if you hook a 2 ohm speaker to it.
 
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A watt is a watt, regardless of its source....

There are different ways to rate the wattage output of power amps, but those are totally independent of what type of amp you have. If two amps measured under the same conditions have the same measured output power, they do have the same output.

That being said, an amp's ability to drive a complex load like a loudspeaker is not revealed by measuring the output wattage into a resistive load....

An other thing is that some amps may subjectively sound louder than others, even if the output rating is the same. One of the reasons may be that the amp clips softer, so any overload is less audible. This is typical for tube amps, they clip rather softly. You can often clip the peaks 6-10 dB before is really starts to sound bad.
 
All I can say is that with the T amp some of the bass simply was not there and it clipped with a too strong signal from a tube preamp, both from using a live electric guitar and from using mp3. I also think tube amps have something magic in the top end that the T amp lacks.

That said, I would like to try Red Wine Audio's products.
 
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I was speaking in general terms of my earlier experiences with two different T amps on fullrange speakers. The lacking of bass woukd not make a difference with the TPL. I am still sceptical. One would have to live with the T amp coloration. I will order a third T amp and try it out. :)
 
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The terms "flat" and "open baffle" are mutually exclusive....

How low any driver will go on an open baffle depends mainly on the baffle size, the bigger the baffle, the better will the LF extension be. But on the other hand, a wide baffle will seriously mess up the midrange frequency response....
 
the 7.5W rating is much more powerful than e.g. 15W on a T-amp. So yes, it should work.

I had a Trend's Audio T amp, rated 10 Watts, and it clipped with ease. Same the
Hiraga Le Monstre.
When i was at Guangzhou Audio Show last november, Line Magnetic had a WE91B - 300B clone of their own brand driving two LM555 per side, and 597 tweeter, quit loud, and it performed flawlessly, without clipping, and no distortion - very clean sound. Some say its only needed a few tube milliwatts to drive a 100db fullrange horn system at home. So thats something i don't understand either.

Yesterday i was playing various kinds of music with LM555 , and it is becoming evident, that lower midrange adds rather expressive horn honk , nasality and coloration, specially on voices - all what i was so happy to get rid off, with TPL/12p80nd. Will have to tweak, and see what i can do to diminish it. First , is try to cross higher - at 300hz . Thats the highest frequency , where i can cross the bass channels with Inosic RAS300 plate amps.
 
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Just don't get stuck with it. My final XO will be analog line level. Possibly passive at line level still.

What do you think about using the Fane Studio 8M the same way you are using the Beyma 12P80M? I could just cross the sub higher at e.g. 200Hz.

I have never used the Fane Studio 8M as direct radiator.
I can hardly imagine that i will be able to get rid of horn coloration in a way, that i will prefere the LM555 to 12p80nd. Once you make direct comparisons, the difference to direct radiators becomes evident right away. But i will draw a conclusion only after try out, what i think might improve things...
At the moment, i don't give credit to who asserts, horn colorations can be overcome, until i am proven contrary.
I am still flirting with the idea to build a 12p80nd/TPL 2 way commercial speaker. The uncertaintly still relies on what bass cabinet would be best, to get the lowest extension possible, and retain the gorgeous lower midrange, the 12p80nd has. Crossover, i think a passive second order would be fine, crossing the TPL at 1500hz, and the 12p80nd at 1200hz.
 
how's liberty 8 for open baffle, how low (and how high:)) it goes flat?

I'm wondering this myself, tempted to try the Liberty this way, with sealed Peerless XXLS <200hz, and TPL/Radian 850PB above 2k.

The Liberty doesn't look much good bellow 200hz without Eq or elaborite loading, and doesnt have enough Xmax for much Eq, so I'm wondering what width of baffle would limit diplole roll of to bellow 200hz. I forget the formula, but I think a 12" baffle with say 4" and 7" raked wings on each side might suffice?

Does anyone think the 12P80nd would be better then the Liberty?......
 
Today i switched back from the LM555, to 12p80nd.
I closed the back of the cabinet with steel wool. So its like a closed cabinet now. And i set the crossover point of the bass line array down to 60hz.
Hudge difference.
The performance of the lower midrange horn with LM555 remembers me the experience with Radian 950pb. First impression is positive, clean well defined sound. But after playing various kinds of music, the shortcomings become evident. Transition from the lower midrange horn to the bass line array is not good. Voices sound nasal, with typical horn coloration. Unnatural and flat, without depth. I had high expectations with LM555. Maibe i am precipitated with my conclusions. Maibe experimenting a bit more, i might get more satisfying results. I might wait, the 300b amp to arrive. It might combine better, and performance might improve significantly. Only try will tell....
The 12p80nd however simply opens up the whole soundstage, depth and illusion of life performance, and naturalness returns. Wonderful. THAT's it.
I need now to switch to a amplifier, which combines better, specially with TPL, and voilá. I am very close to audio nirwana. :)
 
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