Good point Radiosmuck. I am old enough to remember when TV's were all vacuum tubes (1960s). I briefly owned a (tube) Sansui 1000 receiver and thought it sounded great...I did not want to pay to have it maintained so it was sold or given away. But I am with you...technology has made power much cheaper. Vintage stuff is often as good, sound quality wise, as brand new stuff. I will leave that to the "antique collectors." I am perfectly happy with my <$300 Behringer NU3000 putting out 1500 watts/channel (peak perhaps).
These little 2020A amps have Mickey Mouse power. I originally purchased one for computer use and it sounded so good on a pair of Minimus 7's. I then hooked it up to my big old, 15 Ohm Tannoys, not expecting too much, it was just curiosity.
After a few weeks of being amazed, I changed amps permanently.
Way back I listened to Leak TL12 amps and never found them lacking in power.
I only listen to digital programming now so I do not need all the complicated noise producing in/outputs.
There is a big market for the obsolete for some reason. Remember typewriters and how wonderful they were?
After a few weeks of being amazed, I changed amps permanently.
Way back I listened to Leak TL12 amps and never found them lacking in power.
I only listen to digital programming now so I do not need all the complicated noise producing in/outputs.
There is a big market for the obsolete for some reason. Remember typewriters and how wonderful they were?
Some of us need high power. I drive two pair of Bose 901 II which like a few hundred watts per channel at least. If you live in a flat with sensitive speakers a lot less is needed of course. Also much more affordable to find a powerful enough specialty amp (e.g. triode) without going bankrupt. Also I had the Minimus 7 and they were good speakers.
Have you tried this test on your speakers, you might be suprised.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mult...much-voltage-power-do-your-speakers-need.html
Most speakers only seem to need a few watts for serous listening I think the rest is marketing hype.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mult...much-voltage-power-do-your-speakers-need.html
Most speakers only seem to need a few watts for serous listening I think the rest is marketing hype.
I guess Bare was thinking of when the composition resistors were used.
In TANDBERG-equipment they were common through the sixties, and a bit into the seventies. Strangely enough, many of the amps that is thought of as some of the best sounding ones were full of theese resistors.
AND many of them is still working just fine even today.
True enough - power levels at normal volumes do tend to be low. The amp needs some headroom for peaks though (especially for those frequency regions where the speaker is electrically rather than mechanically limited).
Typical recommended amplifier power specs tend to be for ~100 dB SPL of output @ 1 m. For your average 85 dB / W / m speaker (not an uncommon spec), that means about 30 watts. Your average home hi-fi amp isn't in the 50..100 W region for no reason. When listening at normal levels, you may need little more than 10 mW.
Good-sounding high sensitivity speakers are not easy to make and not cheap. It ultimately proved more economical to give up some sensitivity for better frequency response and other performance characteristics in home hi-fi applications. And who's opposed to better sound for less money? PA is different, since at some point the drivers would have had to dissipate hundreds of watts or more and this would have become a serious problem, not to mention the enormous power consumption and (at least in the olden days) equipment weight.
In Russia the company that distributed Tide washing powder spend money on ads that compared Tide with "An ordinary washing powder". Some time later another company started selling "An ordinary washing powder". Probably I should call my next amps "Modern construction".
Wavebourn
Joker! It's not my fault that my ears like harmful sound of vintage amps....
Here’s an example: ugly monster by Alchemist: Kraken mk.1 - 1%THD, but smooth sound.
Still about 300 - 350$ in Poland for a good one.
Nowadays not only electronic equipment is designed by accountants, not engineers.
Joker! It's not my fault that my ears like harmful sound of vintage amps....
Here’s an example: ugly monster by Alchemist: Kraken mk.1 - 1%THD, but smooth sound.
Still about 300 - 350$ in Poland for a good one.
Nowadays not only electronic equipment is designed by accountants, not engineers.
In the west all consumer products are designed to be profitable, that's how it works.
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