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Old 16th Apr 2021, 4:49 pm   #43
Jez1234
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Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Morpeth, Northumberland, UK.
Posts: 936
Default Re: Vintage British Speakers - Advice Please.

Some ahem... "unusual" recommendations coming up in this thread...

Unless the OP is a real headbanger or has a palatial living room don't be too concerned about either efficiency or power handling. Actually an amplifier of too low an output is far more likely to damage speakers than one of high output as when an amp clips it produces a great deal of HF energy which tends to blow tweeters. Hence it being so common to see blown tweeters in speakers that have been turned up for a party etc.

Specifying power handling for speakers is an extremely imprecise "science" at the best of times and it is perfectly OK to use speakers rated at say 25W with a 100W amp so long as you have a reasonable degree of "mechanical sympathy" and take into account the nature of the program material. Well recorded materiel with good dynamic range will have a high peak to mean ratio and eg individual kick drum beats may well peak at say 40W into 25W rated speakers without damage, however, a speaker rated at 100W could easily have its tweeter blown by a continuous tone at say 8KHz even if unclipped and at "only" 10W.

My main speakers are Spendors of a pretty average efficiency of around 87-88dB/W and in my slightly smaller than average sized living room I find even 10WPC from my modded Leak Stereo 20 valve amp can produce pretty loud volumes and bass you can feel.

The human ear/ear-brain interface is extremely non linear in it's perception of volume and in fact to get twice the volume of a 10WPC amp you need about 100WPC. Hence there is little practical difference in max volume between say a 30W amp and a 50W amp. Conversely an average level of only 1W is amazingly loud and many would guess they were hearing more like 10W...

As to specific recommendations well as others have said it's highly subjective... You really must take the room into account as room acoustics can have a profound effect on sound quality and a speaker that sounds great in one room can sound awful in another. Then there's speaker placement. Some speakers are intended to be positioned close to a rear wall (eg Heybrook HB3's and most Linn models) whilst others are meant to be used well clear of any walls (Spendor BC1, KEF 104 etc etc). Almost all need to be kept away from corners (corner horns etc excepted of course) and most away from side walls. Ideally you need to try speakers in your own listening room before committing to purchase but this can be impractical if buying second hand.
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