Yes those my sound cube EL84 are really musical with them. The other ones I like are the 211s made by the guy who owns the uni here, he has voiced his 211 on them, and he is also a distributor for Ming Da as was known for DIY upgrades here. His 211 were better than all other SETs mentioned in my write up plus thoress hybrids and silvercore 833c 20w on the uni. They are voiced with KR 211 but will sound much better with Amperex 211.
What's best in highly sensitive/efficient speakers.
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Sounds like a good plan Shakti. I wonder why you need SET and horns, is there something about them you like? I am guessing, as in many speaker and amp combos, we want it all, and get part of it. Interesting on the Odeons, they are actually not that efficient. So I can see they may need 20W+ to sound big enough. It is a challenge indeed designing a full range speaker that is both wide FR and high efficiency. That is why IMO many ultra high end horns often use SS for the bottom end, like the Living Voice system.
Can you power your X3s with 211s? I wonder if there is enough juice?
Can you power your X3s with 211s? I wonder if there is enough juice?
Has anyone heard Tekton speakers? All seem to be high efficiency and at least one is 8ohms min.
I demoed the Cube Audio Nenuphar speakers last night and I'm impressed enough that I will follow that up with a home audition.
Interested in yr findings. Despite similarities to Zu, the Nephunars are only 93dB eff as opposed to Zu's 101dB. Not an issue w sufficiently robust amp and manageable room.
I only mention this because I briefly considered them myself.
Good luck w demo.
I only mention this because I briefly considered them myself.
Good luck w demo.
They may sound great, but I really can't see calling them a high efficiency speaker at 92dbs/6ohms.
I agree, they aren't a high efficiency speaker at 92dbs/6ohms. The only reason I included them in this thread originally was because the manufacturer drives them with a 2A3 amp at shows. And, I believe, the 6moons review was done with a 10 watt amp.
I heard them with my 2 watt SET 45 amp and a 150 watt SS amp last night.
I'll say more when I demo them at home. Last night I heard them in a system/room that I wasn't familiar with.
I heard them with my 2 watt SET 45 amp and a 150 watt SS amp last night.
I'll say more when I demo them at home. Last night I heard them in a system/room that I wasn't familiar with.
Keith, could you see yself reinvestigating Zu, esp w the new "6" range? Druids 6 already shown to be more neutral and transparent than the 5. Surely the Defs 6 will be a big jump too. And the Experience could be massive, w Sean I believe trying to keep it below $25-30k.
Only a passing interest, but they would struggle in my larger than average room. No dealers in the UK either.
Good question, as real-world differences can be a lot less than published specs imply.
The Nenuphars look quite interesting to me. Very innovative cone design, and imo intelligent juggling of the tradeoffs to end up with a full-range driver that apparently has good bottom end.
Efficiency is not sensitivity. You could have a highly efficient 50db sensitive speaker.
In your experience, is a system more likely to exhibit 'strain' (lack of ease) when the amp doesn't like the sensitivity of a speaker, or when it doesn't like the load the speaker is presenting?
My friend will be reviewing the 6s with Submissions and I'm excited to hear them. However, that doesn't seem the direction I'm going - which is more towards a "giant leap" or stay put. Druids would be sideways at best.
As far as Def 6s or Experiences, Sean works at his own pace. I've owned Devore for 3 years despite Phil promising a new Definition was imminent. So I'm not waiting for empty promises. I'll be one of the first to hear either at Phil's whenever they are in production - but no one truly knows that date, not even Sean.
ps. Cessaro in two weeks
I'm not enough of an amplifier technician to give a good answer, and my experience with amps trying to drive speakers that are too difficult and/or too inefficient is quite limited. I have some familiarity with the effect of the speaker's impedance curve plus the amp's output impedance on the system's frequency response, but that's not the same thing as voltage limiting or current limiting.
Eyeballing the curves of the AN/E and the Nenuphar, my guess is that the Nenuphar is an "easier load".
You're hearing the Liszts too, or just the Chopins? I've heard the Liszts 3x now, first time w sympathetic Class A SS was beyond stellar, next w Class A 211s was pretty meh, third time w Class D 700W was pants.
Re Sean prevaricating on new models, suits me. I can spend the next 2-3 years optimising my Def 4s further, while having the time to save for Def 6s or Experiences.
Yes, and unfortunately the terms are often used interchangeably.
But even when everybody's using the same terms the same way, it is still possible that not everyone is measuring with the same yardstick.
A tube amplifier manufacturer that I'm friends with owned a pair of 101 dB efficient speakers (101 dB/1 watt/1 meter), and their rated impedance was an exceptionally good match for his amplifiers. A friend of his bought some 93 dB speakers from me (I use the T/S parameters to calculate efficiency). I shipped the speakers to the amp manufacturer, the plan being my customer would pick them up there. The impedance of my speakers was decent but not as tube-amp-friendly as that of the 101 dB speakers.
The amplifier manufacturer played my speakers in the same system as his 101 dB speakers. He told me that my 93 dB efficient speakers "behaved as if" they were the same efficiency as his 101 dB speakers.
"Behaved as if" may not be the most precise metric ever cited in an internet forum post, but apparently the real-world efficiency was a lot closer than the 8 dB discrepancy in the specs would imply.
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