Guarneri Homage or Believe It or Not

[Onemug]

For the last week I have been driving my GH's with a 2a3/45 SET amp. When the 2a3 tube is in there I get around 3.5 wpc, 1.8 wpc with the 45 tube.

The plan was to use this amp to power a ribbon tweeter on a custom pair of 2 ways (300b on the mid/woofer) that uses an active crossover. The amp was new to me and I wanted to check out its stability before I direct coupled it to my ribbon. I'm enjoying this so much, I have left it in.

Point is: You don't "have" to have megawatt amps to get a musicaly engaging sound out of the GH's. For this to work out, room size and spl will be the limiting factors.

Believe it or not.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Onemug

For the last week I have been driving my GH's with a 2a3/45 SET amp. When the 2a3 tube is in there I get around 3.5 wpc, 1.8 wpc with the 45 tube.

Point is: You don't "have" to have megawatt amps to get a musicaly engaging sound out of the GH's. For this to work out, room size and spl will be the limiting factors.

Onemug.......So, when are you moving the Guarneri Homage speakers out of the walk-in closet?

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Onemug.......So, when are you moving the Guarneri Homage speakers out of the walk-in closet?

[Onemug]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Onemug.......So, when are you moving the Guarneri Homage speakers out of the walk-in closet?

Walk-in closet??? It's an old phone booth I had restored.
It brings new meaning to the term "nearfield".

All jesting aside, the room is 12x14 with a 10' ceiling. I sit about 6-7' away. My spl is 70-80 db. The GH will give you 86 db with 1 watt. US Dept of Labor defines 90 db as the "start of unsafe levels".

Horses for courses, this is not the horse/course for rock/metal but smooth jazz/girl and guitar, not so bad.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Onemug

US Dept of Labor defines 90 db as the "start of unsafe levels".

I guess I am Acoustically & Financially unsafe to be around.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by Onemug

Walk-in closet??? It's an old phone booth I had restored.
It brings new meaning to the term "nearfield".

All jesting aside, the room is 12x14 with a 10' ceiling. I sit about 6-7' away. My spl is 70-80 db. The GH will give you 86 db with 1 watt. US Dept of Labor defines 90 db as the "start of unsafe levels".

Horses for courses, this is not the horse/course for rock/metal but smooth jazz/girl and guitar, not so bad.

You will get no argument form me. Most rooms really start loading up above 95dB.

[PHC1]

Onemug, I can relate to what you are saying. Some years ago I built an all tube, low power system just for fun in a 12x14x8 room.

The system consisted of $99 (each) Antique Sound Lab "The Wave" 8w monoblocks, $1100 Audio Electronics DJH Preamp, $800 AhTjoeb tube CDP and $1400 Soliloquy 5.0 speakers which I believe were around 88dB efficient.

While the 8w monoblocks could not make the speakers reach very high SPLs in a bigger room, in that particular room, I didn't need that much. I listened to a variety of music including jazz, blues, rock and classical with that system and it was enjoyable and I could get it to play music more than loud enough for intimate late night listening. In many ways that system very satisfying to listen to. Not the last word in resolution and dynamics but the lush and warm tonal presentation made the earlier CDs so much more enjoyable to listen to during late night listening sessions.

So, yes, you can get away with low power if the room is smaller and you don't need to reproduce music very loud and don't mind the smaller, more intimate scale of reproduction. Of course my main system with 300w in a bigger room at the time allowed me to experience music on a much bigger scale and dynamic impact.

[Onemug]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I guess I am Acoustically & Financially unsafe to be around.

"Acoustically", you're okay until we have to start typing in capitol letters.

Stillone: "Most rooms really start loading up above 95dB. "
And there in llies the rub. Some speakers don't sound right until you turn them up. The G's seem to do quite well at low volumes.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Onemug

US Dept of Labor defines 90 db as the "start of unsafe levels".

Onemug.......Oh yes, I always look to the US Government for sound advice.

[Onemug]

Serge, I had a pair of Soliloquy 5.0 for about a month. I think their impedance runs from 8 to 12 ohms. Very freindly toward small tube amps. I too enjoy a late night musical presentation.

jdandy, I hope we're just having fun. It was just a reference. I should have added that "their advice" was 90 db for 8 hours. Helpful to people in factories etc. I listen as loud as I want to. My life/my ears.