Low power into the speakers will make them sound fine
And, because of that, comparison between amplifiers, A to B, results precise.
You can attach voltage to your speaker using batteries or supplies.... but small voltage...bellow 10 volts.
You will see that they reach the maximum excursion with less than 10 volts...so.... if you inject a sinusoidal with bigger voltage than that you will have an "acoustic square wave"...because the speaker diafragm, cone, will not be able to travel further.
There are compliance limits..cannot travel more than the mechanical limit!
So... small power into speakers is the solution to make them sound good...and them, as a result, as speaker will not be
bothering anymore, you will perceive differences between amplifiers.
The interesting to have more watts is because the amplifier will distort less when working 20 percent its maximum...so.... 50 to 100 watts are a good idea if the guy keep the power within the speaker limits... having speaker distortions only during transient or dinamic peaks.
We need more than a good amplifie and good speaker.... we need ourselves to be a good sound system operator...knowing those tricks.
Observe that speaker manufacturers inform maximum power (dissipation... heat without burn, without melt)...but they do not tell us this is not undistorted power the unit can hold.... cannot hold that power...normally reach the maximum movement....and there are the bandits...they make speaker huge, not to move with less than 40 watts.... dirty trick.
Planet 10 is rigth.... no more than 10 watts!
regards,
Carlos
And, because of that, comparison between amplifiers, A to B, results precise.
You can attach voltage to your speaker using batteries or supplies.... but small voltage...bellow 10 volts.
You will see that they reach the maximum excursion with less than 10 volts...so.... if you inject a sinusoidal with bigger voltage than that you will have an "acoustic square wave"...because the speaker diafragm, cone, will not be able to travel further.
There are compliance limits..cannot travel more than the mechanical limit!
So... small power into speakers is the solution to make them sound good...and them, as a result, as speaker will not be
bothering anymore, you will perceive differences between amplifiers.
The interesting to have more watts is because the amplifier will distort less when working 20 percent its maximum...so.... 50 to 100 watts are a good idea if the guy keep the power within the speaker limits... having speaker distortions only during transient or dinamic peaks.
We need more than a good amplifie and good speaker.... we need ourselves to be a good sound system operator...knowing those tricks.
Observe that speaker manufacturers inform maximum power (dissipation... heat without burn, without melt)...but they do not tell us this is not undistorted power the unit can hold.... cannot hold that power...normally reach the maximum movement....and there are the bandits...they make speaker huge, not to move with less than 40 watts.... dirty trick.
Planet 10 is rigth.... no more than 10 watts!
regards,
Carlos
Maybe the relatively high low order harmonics and transformer coupled interface of valve amps is more suitable for driving dynamic loudspeakers than a hyper-linear hyper-damped SS amp? Maybe "forcing" a perfect voltage source signal replica upon the speaker terminals isn't actually the best way to drive it.
MJL21193 said:
Those look like very good numbers MJL21193. Those distortion levels will be completely inaudible with music. Good job.
I have to agree that the "sound" differences between well designed class A or AB amplifiers are zilch, assuming you are using one with enough power for the job. And when comparing different amps you have to level match them. Different amps have different input sensitivity's. When comparing, an amp that is just 1db louder than the other will seem more dynamic, brighter and have better bass while the other will sound muddy etc...
Face it, if you like listening to 10w amplifiers, you just like the distortion they produce when driven hard. There's nothing wrong with that. Its just non-linear reproduction of sound.
Anyone wanting to prove me wrong without insulting yours or my intelligence is welcome.
MJL21193 said:
Wow, only 1.5% THD at 1Khz at 110db? That's impressive. NOT.
I probably won't be building that tube amp after all...
Did you read the article? He was consistently getting lower in-room distortion with a single ended triode amplifier than with a NAD SS amp with significantly lower measured distortion (directly from the terminals
1.5% THD at 110dB SPL is pretty good, no matter how you get there.MJL21193 said:
Where is the tests linked was there a measured in room THD figure that equated to the difference in distortion at the amp terminals?
I thought it was an interesting set of tests, and something I'd like to repeat myself later.
That's a sweeping statement. Considering that when my small tube amp begins to make any serious distortion, SPLs are in the vicinity of 110dB at 1m, I'd say it's fairly irrelevant. Distortion in my amps falls fairly linearly with level, so at sensible average levels, THD is very low.Stormrider said:
Stormrider said:
Thanks Stormrider. Amp is here.
Many hours working on it and testing it.
bigwill said:
Hi Bigwill,
Yes, I read the article after the direct link was posted. That was kind of a knee jerk reaction above, half in jest.
As for the NAD, I can't see where the distortion would be coming from. If the amp itself is not distorting the signal, it must be it's ability (or inability) to drive the speaker load or the speaker itself.
Anyhow, most of his tests were below 110db. What if you want it louder? (I do!)
bigwill said:
Remove the cotton wool from your ears
A sine wave output producing 110db at 1 metre in not really like music, is it? Music has transients, a sine wave doesn't.
Having the music loud doesn't have anything to do with hearing ability. Most of the time, I will listen at moderate volume, but if I can't turn it up loud every once in a while, I might as well trash the whole works.
bigwill said:MJL21193, you should build a nice feedback free Class-A tube amp, you might be pleasantly surprised
Hi Bigwill,
I'll most likely do just that one of these days, as I think these tube amps are interesting to look at and a means to impress my few friends. I'm quite shallow that way.
I have a project waiting in the weeds... a tube input stage with a bipolar output stage, running class A. This would combine both worlds and eliminate the need for an output transformer.
Any ideas for such an amp? I know nothing about tube amp construction.
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