power amp/stereo amp

[Seth=L]

With 5 amps , The bryston , Carver , Sony 4 channel bridged to 2 ( the Sony sounded abit better unbridged ) and a JBL amp + the SP3 .
It was quite abit of work and time , that bryston is heavy .
Out of all the SS stuff i liked the Bryston the most for the depth of soundstage , the Carver a good soundstage and softer sound , the Sony bridged was ok at very low volumes anything higher my ears got tiered of it fast ( Harsh mids and upperend ) and the JBL was just a Amp similar to the sony at mid volumes harsh and lacked bass ( now i use the JBL on my Puter with a cheap Home sub and Klipsch speakers ) . The Sp3 is unreal at lower volumes and at mid volumes very good .

The Sony and the JBL are probably not stable with lower impedances. The brightness is audible clipping. Tube amps have a very high tolerance for high amperage over long periods of time. The SP3 won't sound stressed like the transistor amps that are clipping. You can actually overdrive a tube for sometime before it is damaged, I am not sure what affect this has on the sound, but I would imagine that tubes running past their rated levels versus transistors sounds much "cleaner". Transistors put under intense loads above their ratings for any duration will force protection into affect or damage the output devices.

Lastly, 38 watts is a decent amount of power. If given a speaker that is moderately efficient or better one can reach insane levels of output with a tube amp because of the characteristics of a tube amp. High current demands don't phase tube amps, at least not as much as they do transistor topologies. And considering you may be potentially using more than 38 watts (8 ohms) at times you wouldn't even know the amp was exceeding its ratings. Imagine how many watts the amp would deliver with 2 ohms, probably over 100.

Anyone feel free to correct me here, this is just my understanding of how tube amplifiers work. High current is the advantage of tube topologies.

 

[mtrycrafts]

With 5 amps , The bryston , Carver , Sony 4 channel bridged to 2 ( the Sony sounded abit better unbridged ) and a JBL amp + the SP3 .
It was quite abit of work and time , that bryston is heavy .
Out of all the SS stuff i liked the Bryston the most for the depth of soundstage , the Carver a good soundstage and softer sound , the Sony bridged was ok at very low volumes anything higher my ears got tiered of it fast ( Harsh mids and upperend ) and the JBL was just a Amp similar to the sony at mid volumes harsh and lacked bass ( now i use the JBL on my Puter with a cheap Home sub and Klipsch speakers ) . The Sp3 is unreal at lower volumes and at mid volumes very good .

Yes, but how did you level match and did you use any bias controls?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Lastly, 38 watts is a decent amount of power. .

I had a chance to view a movie at a friends place. Full range centers, moderately loud listening. Rarely saw the center at 1.5W while the sub was pumping somewhere 125w at the same time. I just cannot imagine what 10dB more would sound like or be deaf from it.

 

[Seth=L]

I had a chance to view a movie at a friends place. Full range centers, moderately loud listening. Rarely saw the center at 1.5W while the sub was pumping somewhere 125w at the same time. I just cannot imagine what 10dB more would sound like or be deaf from it.

People really don't realize how little power they are using to achieve the levels of output they have their stuff at on a regular basis. All these crazy bass heads talking about "pushing 300 watts into my speakers" nonsense is laughable. My favorite one however is when they tell me this. "My speakers have 200 watts", my response/inquiry, "Your speakers have built in amplifiers?"

 

[wire]

People really don't realize how little power they are using to achieve the levels of output they have their stuff at on a regular basis. All these crazy bass heads talking about "pushing 300 watts into my speakers" nonsense is laughable. My favorite one however is when they tell me this. "My speakers have 200 watts", my response/inquiry, "Your speakers have built in amplifiers?"

Heh
You can say most ppl. have never heard a real amp pushed hard and dont know what there missing .

 

[dave1490]

i can
3db+ is twice as loud
6db is 4x,s as loud
12db is 8,x as loud

scrach that
3db is 2x,s as loud
6db os 4x,s as loud
9db is 8x,s as loud
12db is 16x,s as loud

 

[markw]

you're confusing power with loudness.

scrach that
3db is 2x,s as loud
6db os 4x,s as loud
9db is 8x,s as loud
12db is 16x,s as loud

If you double the power (watts) to a speaker, the "loudness" gain is 3 decibels, and three decibels is barely audible, or at least nowhere near twice as loud. To double the apparent loudness, you need roughly 10x the power, or about 10 decibels.

Let's assume a speaker has a sensitivity rating of 90db/watt. It would chart out like this:

1 watt = 90 db
2 watts = 93 db
4 watts = 96 db
8 watts = 99 db (now we've just about doubled the 1 watt loudness)
16 watts = 102 db
...and on and on. Double one side, add three to the other. Repeat as needed.

For more than you probably want to know about this, this site does a fairly decent job of explaining it in detail. Most certainly better than I can.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99325.htm

Don't take it personally. Many people confuse these two.

enjoy...

 

[obscbyclouds]

The Sony and the JBL are probably not stable with lower impedances. The brightness is audible clipping. Tube amps have a very high tolerance for high amperage over long periods of time. The SP3 won't sound stressed like the transistor amps that are clipping. You can actually overdrive a tube for sometime before it is damaged, I am not sure what affect this has on the sound, but I would imagine that tubes running past their rated levels versus transistors sounds much "cleaner". Transistors put under intense loads above their ratings for any duration will force protection into affect or damage the output devices.

If my Tube guitar amp is any guide, you would not want your HT Tube amp to be overdriven. Guitar players actually use this to create a smooth distortion effect (AKA Overdrive), I imagine in a HT setup it would cause serious problems.

As an aside, my 100 watt Marshall guitar amp is WAYYYYYY louder than my HT setup (which i believe claims 135 watts/ channel, but it's a sony, so who knows!)

 

[dave1490]

If you double the power (watts) to a speaker, the "loudness" gain is 3 decibels, and three decibels is barely audible, or at least nowhere near twice as loud. To double the apparent loudness, you need roughly 10x the power, or about 10 decibels.

Let's assume a speaker has a sensitivity rating of 90db/watt. It would chart out like this:

1 watt = 90 db
2 watts = 93 db
4 watts = 96 db
8 watts = 99 db (now we've just about doubled the 1 watt loudness)
16 watts = 102 db
...and on and on. Double one side, add three to the other. Repeat as needed.

For more than you probably want to know about this, this site does a fairly decent job of explaining it in detail. Most certainly better than I can.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99325.htm

Don't take it personally. Many people confuse these two.

enjoy...

right must have been thinking of somthing else.