SET amp owners thread

[Ampexed]

I agree when you listen that loud then you need that kind of power. I never listen that loud.

That's fine and agree with you 100%. But I would only ask that you be open to the possibility that when you listen to music with significant low frequency information (bass drum, pipe organ, electronic) that you entertain the possibility that your low power SET might be introducing significant distortion. If the possibility that this is the case doesn't matter with you, that is fine!

I am above all, through my multi-decades journey as an electronics engineer, music composer and listener, an analog purist. I absolutely do not, and will not let anything intrude in that purity. If my experience showed something different than what I'm saying, I'd plainly state that!

 

[Ampexed]

If you read carefully, the low frequency range is where there is a lot of discrepancy between various curves, of which Fletcher Munson is the oldest. So, it is likely not as dramatic as these curves suggest, otherwise somewhat flat speakers would sound horribly thin. The B&K finding that a 1dB/octave downward slope gives the most natural sound, means that your bass will be 3-4 dB higher if done right but not 15 dB like F-M curves show.

I would ask that you do the simple experiment of placing an RMS voltmeter on the output of your power amplifier while playing the most demanding passages of low frequency content at healthy SPLs and do the calculation of watts. I think you will probably be surprised.

A frequency at 30Hz demands far more wattage to reproduce at the same subjective level as at 1kHz. Do the experiment yourself if you don't believe me.