Is More watts better?

[PAT.P]

So whats the answer guys?Most of my HT speakers are 91db to 94db In average room 2.83 V,1m. Im going to add a power amp to drive my fronts from pre-out of receiver.Im using A/Bspeakers at same time .The amp is 300 watts at 4ohms both channel driven.How loud do you think its going to be

[Florian]

It will never be anywhere close to 300watts and we dont know the damping factor or the impedance responce of your speakers ;-)

Bottom line: Try it out and see if you like it, if you dont then junk it and buy a different one and if you like it.....well thats simple!

-Flo

[PAT.P]

It will never be anywhere close to 300watts and we dont know the damping factor or the impedance responce of your speakers ;-)

Bottom line: Try it out and see if you like it, if you dont then junk it and buy a different one and if you like it.....well thats simple!

-Flo

Damping factor>100 at 1khz,S/N ratio 100db.Nominal Impedance of speakers is 6 ohms.This amp detect auto from 2ohms( 480 w) both channel to 8ohms (205w)If I see it help I'll use it ,if I see it does'nt I'll try others.Lots of reading to do on spec on amps (gains,distortion,ect) its a new ball game.Thanks

[pitbosskev]

Thanks all for the help and info.

[RGA]

So whats the answer guys?Most of my HT speakers are 91db to 94db In average room 2.83 V,1m. Im going to add a power amp to drive my fronts from pre-out of receiver.Im using A/Bspeakers at same time .The amp is 300 watts at 4ohms both channel driven.How loud do you think its going to be

When i added a Bryston 120 watt power amp to my 95 db sensitive top of the line Wharfedales everything improved - tighter bass punchy sound cleaner and tighter and less sluggish. This was actually a 5 watt downgrade because I had the top of the line Pioneer Elite Receiver rated at 125 watts RMS and distortion figures that rivalled the Bryston.

It's not about the watts and it's not strictly about the sensitivity rating. Plenty of speakers at 93db sensitivity and are not the least bit friendly to low powered amps. SET amps like stable loads - nothing wrong with a 4 ohm load if it doesn't dip and rise too much. My speakers are rated as 6 ohms but never dip under 5. If I remember correctly the 2.83V, 1m spec needs to be subtracted by 3db to be the same as the 1 watt 1 meter spec (not 100% sure so check on that). Remember for every 3db gain you need twice the amplifier power.

Florian - I'd be curious as to the Serial numbers of both the Kondo and the Conquests. The Conquests and Kageki amplifiers as well as all of the other AN amps that I have heard and the one I own and everyone else I know who has ever heard any of them hear absolutely no noise with any of these amplifiers - there may be a faulty connection and your friend should definitely have a repair outlet fix the issue.

[Florian]

Florian - I'd be curious as to the Serial numbers of both the Kondo and the Conquests. The Conquests and Kageki amplifiers as well as all of the other AN amps that I have heard and the one I own and everyone else I know who has ever heard any of them hear absolutely no noise with any of these amplifiers - there may be a faulty connection and your friend should definitely have a repair outlet fix the issue.

No problem, the review will be published soon and all will be shown there. There are quite a view articles that compared the original Kondo to the new version from Peter where he added more feedback to get a quieter background and it took all the magic out. So far on CD's its below the expectiations but is a killer in the analog realm. All testes on Acoustats, Apogees and of course no wooden coffins to actually hear what the amp does ;-)

-Flo

[RGA]

No problem, the review will be published soon and all will be shown there. There are quite a view articles that compared the original Kondo to the new version from Peter where he added more feedback to get a quieter background and it took all the magic out. So far on CD's its below the expectiations but is a killer in the analog realm. All testes on Acoustats, Apogees and of course no wooden coffins to actually hear what the amp does ;-)

-Flo

Published where - which magazine? Peter has both Ongaku amps - Everyone so far that has heard both said the AN UK version is better. There is no negative feedback - Peter uses far better transformers which reduces background noise -- the prototype of the UK Ongaku was not quiet in the noise department as Martin Colloms noted in his recent review in Hi-Fi News -- nevertheless it was noted that it would be in the running for world's best amp -- and that version was not even fixed up. These amps and Kondo's were not designed for panels -- Kondo hated panels which is why he made "coffins" and showed with his "coffins" or other companies' "coffins."

[theaudiohobby]

Published where - which magazine? Peter has both Ongaku amps - Everyone so far that has heard both said the AN UK version is better.

Hmmm...and who will these people be? The only person I am aware of so far to have said this publicly is Peter Qvortrup himself and what else do you expect him to say

[RGA]

Hmmm...and who will these people be? The only person I am aware of so far to have said this publicly is Peter Qvortrup himself and what else do you expect him to say

Well he also said you could go to his home and hear it for yourself - but you're far too much of a coward to try.

Not everyone posts on forums buddy and several people in Victoria and Nanaimo I have met as owners -- who have flown to England went to Peter's house and heard the systems. You see these are people with money who have heard the best systems in the world and owned them and have discussed with designers like Mark Levinson. When they spend this much money on an Audio Note system they want to hear the flagship and then determine how close they want to get to it. And when you drop close to half a million dollars a plane ticket to England is less than the tax on the interconnect cable.

You are welcome to come here and I shall introduce these people to you but I am not posting their names because I was requested not to - especially with the rampant home invasions on the rise.

[Florian]

Well of course you know that i think that Audio Note speakers are pure junk and you will never ever convince me or any of the other thousands ultra high end people different BUT RGA is right in one regards. 10 or 18 watts is more then enough! The VS 18 Watt DB300's (voted best amp on the planet 3 times) on the Apogees and you can get them in the 90db range with them. Of course you need a lot more to get the max SPL of a 118db but for most good speakers 18 watt is quite enough.

-Flo

[markw]

Well he also said you could go to his home and hear it for yourself - but you're far too much of a coward to try.

Not everyone posts on forums buddy and several people in Victoria and Nanaimo I have met as owners -- who have flown to England went to Peter's house and heard the systems. You see these are people with money who have heard the best systems in the world and owned them and have discussed with designers like Mark Levinson. When they spend this much money on an Audio Note system they want to hear the flagship and then determine how close they want to get to it. And when you drop close to half a million dollars a plane ticket to England is less than the tax on the interconnect cable.

You are welcome to come here and I shall introduce these people to you but I am not posting their names because I was requested not to - especially with the rampant home invasions on the rise.

Lots of bluff and bravado but nothing of substance.

You assume that peole want to be bothered to take a trip to meet you and your friends because they don't post on these forums?

Half a million dollars for a plane ticket?

You're afraid that by mentioning your friends names their homes will be broken into? I guess only thieves read these forums, eh? ...or could it be that they don't want to be publicly assocated with you?

Thanks for my daily laugh.

[kexodusc]

It's not about the watts and it's not strictly about the sensitivity rating. Plenty of speakers at 93db sensitivity and are not the least bit friendly to low powered amps. SET amps like stable loads - nothing wrong with a 4 ohm load if it doesn't dip and rise too much. My speakers are rated as 6 ohms but never dip under 5. If I remember correctly the 2.83V, 1m spec needs to be subtracted by 3db to be the same as the 1 watt 1 meter spec (not 100% sure so check on that). Remember for every 3db gain you need twice the amplifier power.

Nah, the 2.83 V is just used because 2.83 V into 8 ohms is 1 watt. But almost all speakers that use the 2.83 V number for sensitivity will have lower "real" sensitivity if measured with 1 watt fed into them. You do subtract 3 dB if your speakers are 4 ohm, because that'd be the same as running 2 watts into 4 ohms (sort of).

Many efficiency/sensitivity numbers I've seen on speakers aren't done in anechoic conditions, and use room gain to jack that number up a a bit. That ticks me off. I see this with $300 or cheaper speakers that boast 90 or 91 dB efficiency. It's often a few dB's less. Not a big deal, but I think a stricter standard needs to be enforced.