Your speaker cable and amplifier designs are just incredible. The A class SECA I use has been a real game changer for me. Even if you don't do it commercially, make sure you keep tinkering.
Put your maggots away boys... 38 Watts (4 ohms) of Wonfor single ended Class A into 95dB here... ;-p (Tho he gloatingly tells me both of your amps *sound* (even) better than my Toca. Never trust the specs alone...)
Neil, you would be really, really surprised how far those ten (Wonfor) Watts go. Further by far than 90 or so NVA statement Watts did.
Your right Alan. I have the very TSS 90w NVA you refer to. A cracker of an amp, but my 18W Iridium really is the business, many many watts less but it fills the room with BIG detailed and controlled music. It still impresses me 9 months later
Yup. It's a bigger, ballsier sound with warmth and presence, and just extraordinary levels of detail and nuance. That's not to say that the NVA statement is poor by any means but the SECA amp makes most things sound ordinary. That's how I heard it anyway.
Neil, one of the special things about the SECA is the way it uses it's power and finally runs out of puff. It sounds big and glorious without hardening as it goes louder, unlike other solid state which just sounds loud and hard when pushed, almost like the system is shouting. The SECA just holds its nerve, before dropping off a cliff. I could run the RR3s at just over 85dB in room without a problem even on dynamic pieces. You'd always know when you've exceeded max volume because it crackles through the speakers on peaks.
BTW, this cannot damage speakers, according to Col, as the extraordinary damping factor of his SECA topology remains formidable even during clipping. So you hear truly accurate clipping! ! :-D seriously, think about it. An amp which controls the speaker perfectly even when pushed past it's limits. Wonderful stuff.
Yeah. I can quite believe that. As I've said before, even through the RR3s, an Iridium had the speakers and stands rocking backwards and forwards at my last place (we had a concrete floor) and no sign of clipping.
I concur. I've posessed a number of variously powered amps. Wattage rarely appears to be a defining characteristic. I0 years ago I owned a Musical Fidelity A3.2 that I think was 115W per channel. Then a pair of NVA A80 monos (80 watts?) that sounded better. Then an NVA TSS (unknown wattage) that sounded better, then an Inca Tech ID25 Class A (25 watts) that sounded better, then a TOCA SECA 20 (20 watts) that sounded best. I like to listen loud. No problems with any of the above (my speakers are 4 ohms (into which the SECA rises to 38 watts) and fairly sensitive, mind). Oddly I also own an Inca Tech Claymore (currently on loan to Suzy6toes). That is a bizarrely loud amp. It's rated at *only* 50 Watts (though Colin did things to it. Unspeakable things). Hard to push the dial beyond 25%. By far the *loudest* amp I've owned. Physically tiny too. Not sure how all these numbers contribute to perceived *loudness* with a given set of speakers... :-/ Certainly not as simple as naked watts...
The claymore has a fairly high gain pre section I think. I've reduced the gain on mine, and also repurposed the mute switch as a passive/active pre switch. So in passive mode the input selector goes straight to vol pot and then to power amp. That gives much more travel on the vol pot, although it never goes above 12 o'clock. In active mode there's less usable vol range, even with the gain reduced.
The claymore has a fairly high gain pre section I think. I've reduced the gain on mine, and also repurposed the mute switch as a passive/active pre switch. So in passive mode the input selector goes straight to vol pot and then to power amp. That gives much more travel on the vol pot, although it never goes above 12 o'clock. In active mode there's less usable vol range, even with the gain reduced.
Comments
You take care of yourself Mr. W.
But, what's this...? "Here we have a...rather ugly and bulbous stereo power amplifier".
How very dare they. Explain "interesting" please Colin...
For lots of reasons!
All the best Col!
☺
FWIW, I used to run 83 dB @ 1W/1M mini monitors on a 10 SECA stereo amp and it was fine even across a large room.
Now I use 27W SECA mono blocks into 92 dB floor standing speakers and I definitely recommend the overkill approach. Much more room for dynamics.
38 Watts (4 ohms) of Wonfor single ended Class A into 95dB here... ;-p
(Tho he gloatingly tells me both of your amps *sound* (even) better than my Toca. Never trust the specs alone...)
Neil, you would be really, really surprised how far those ten (Wonfor) Watts go. Further by far than 90 or so NVA statement Watts did.
Neil, one of the special things about the SECA is the way it uses it's power and finally runs out of puff. It sounds big and glorious without hardening as it goes louder, unlike other solid state which just sounds loud and hard when pushed, almost like the system is shouting. The SECA just holds its nerve, before dropping off a cliff. I could run the RR3s at just over 85dB in room without a problem even on dynamic pieces. You'd always know when you've exceeded max volume because it crackles through the speakers on peaks.
BTW, this cannot damage speakers, according to Col, as the extraordinary damping factor of his SECA topology remains formidable even during clipping. So you hear truly accurate clipping! ! :-D seriously, think about it. An amp which controls the speaker perfectly even when pushed past it's limits. Wonderful stuff.
I've posessed a number of variously powered amps. Wattage rarely appears to be a defining characteristic. I0 years ago I owned a Musical Fidelity A3.2 that I think was 115W per channel. Then a pair of NVA A80 monos (80 watts?) that sounded better. Then an NVA TSS (unknown wattage) that sounded better, then an Inca Tech ID25 Class A (25 watts) that sounded better, then a TOCA SECA 20 (20 watts) that sounded best.
I like to listen loud. No problems with any of the above (my speakers are 4 ohms (into which the SECA rises to 38 watts) and fairly sensitive, mind).
Oddly I also own an Inca Tech Claymore (currently on loan to Suzy6toes). That is a bizarrely loud amp. It's rated at *only* 50 Watts (though Colin did things to it. Unspeakable things). Hard to push the dial beyond 25%. By far the *loudest* amp I've owned. Physically tiny too. Not sure how all these numbers contribute to perceived *loudness* with a given set of speakers... :-/ Certainly not as simple as naked watts...
Thanks for that!