Power Matching - Speakers and Amplifier

[rikhav]

Rikhav,
Had read about the MF super chargers a while ago. If i recall correctly they are just MONO BLOCS to be used with a good preamp and the A1 being class A entirely should make a clean sounding pre. Its basically a vertically designed power amp IMO and i think outputs 550W.
Regards

Hi Dinyaar
How are you doing?
You are very correct. They are MONO BLOCKS and basically power amps. But on the site they have made a small story big. Now I feel naming them as SUPERCHARGERS is just a marketing gimmick
The price of these SUPERCHARGERS was a mind boggling 1500 pounds a piece which makes it totally out of reach for many of us. They have come out with a 750 watt model as well

 

[dinyaar]

Hi again Rikhav,
Am doing fine and the entire last month i have waited patiently for my new amp to arrive which it did just last week. I was offered the 4B for a small payment which i accepted. Ya i think the word super charger is just another term. Basically its a power amp but being sleek and vertically positioned is intended to be placed next to either speaker with bare minimum speaker cables. Have not heard them but i did hear the big A 5.5 integrated and it was a fluid sound and at 250W had the muscle to drive most speakers well. Actually all MF gear have a strong sonic imprint and if one likes the sound one is immensely pleased.
Regards

 

[dinyaar]

Dinyaar,

I am satisfied with the existing setup but afraid of any damage to the amplifier because of high powered speakers than the amplifier's. That's why asked suggestions from the forum. Thanks.

Regards,
Muthusami. S

Hi Muthusami,
I doubt u will ever blow your amp(100wpc) with ur speakers rated at 150W. Muthu i doubt you will take the volume all the way up or close to that. From what i gather this is a made for each other combo and the manufacturer has used the old conservative method of giving u a speaker capable of handling the amp and a little more. When u take the volume up gradually u will hear when the music starts to degrade.
Dont get too perturbed about all this. Listen to your music at the level u prefer. Change only when u feel that the system lacks QUALITY.
Regards

 

[venkatcr]

Hi Muthusami,

I doubt u will ever blow your amp(100wpc) with ur speakers rated at 150W. Muthu i doubt you will take the volume all the way up or close to that. From what i gather this is a made for each other combo and the manufacturer has used the old conservative method of giving u a speaker capable of handling the amp and a little more. When u take the volume up gradually u will hear when the music starts to degrade.

Dont get too perturbed about all this. Listen to your music at the level u prefer. Change only when u feel that the system lacks QUALITY.

Regards

This is true. In any case Mark is sweet enough to provide a long warranty (5 years or life, I don't remember). So throw your worries away and enjoy Kaaka Kaaka songs !!! Even if you blow the amp (remote chance) he will repair it / replace it for you.

Just curious. What kind of power do you normally use?

 

[reignofchaos]

Rikhav,
Had read about the MF super chargers a while ago. If i recall correctly they are just MONO BLOCS to be used with a good preamp and the A1 being class A entirely should make a clean sounding pre. Its basically a vertically designed power amp IMO and i think outputs 550W.
Regards

The basic problem with the A1 is its pre. Its power output section is actually quite nice. So it may not be a great idea to cripple those monoblocks with A1 as the pre. I hope the new A1 has a better preamp section.

 

[Muthusami S]

Hi Muthusami,
I doubt u will ever blow your amp(100wpc) with ur speakers rated at 150W. Muthu i doubt you will take the volume all the way up or close to that. From what i gather this is a made for each other combo and the manufacturer has used the old conservative method of giving u a speaker capable of handling the amp and a little more. When u take the volume up gradually u will hear when the music starts to degrade.
Dont get too perturbed about all this. Listen to your music at the level u prefer. Change only when u feel that the system lacks QUALITY.
Regards

Hi Dinyaar,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I am using the cable which was given by the manufacturer and one of the forum member who auditioned my setup suggested to user OFC cables. Planning to get Accell Ultra cables.

Regards,
Muthusami. S

 

[Muthusami S]

This is true. In any case Mark is sweet enough to provide a long warranty (5 years or life, I don't remember). So throw your worries away and enjoy Kaaka Kaaka songs !!! Even if you blow the amp (remote chance) he will repair it / replace it for you.

Just curious. What kind of power do you normally use?

That's right. I am not sure about the warranty but definitely Mark will provide service support. Yesterday, I tested my setup with Kaaka Kaaka songs at different levels. Speakers sound beautiful but if the bass is max and loudness button is turned on, the woofers rattle somewhat at 50% volume, for the track "Oru Ooril Azhage...". For the song "Kalayana then nila..." from Mounam Sammadham, speakers sound amazing with full bass and loudness button even at higher volumes. May be the quality of recording is excellent or the instruments selection was great. You can also the song if you have. I have also tested the song "Ilamai edho edho..." (Movie: Sakala Kala Vallavan) and "En uyire vaa, enaaruge" (Movie: Poonthotta Kaaval Karan) and amazed by the orchestration.

Just curious. What kind of power do you normally use?

I assume you are asking about the volume level; I use max 50% of the volume because I am in a rented house!!!

Regards,
Muthu

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Muthu,
Once again i mention that i am not familiar with ur system at all. Regardless IMO the LOUDNESS feature is only to be used (if at all one chooses to use it) at low volumes as it artificially tampers/modifies the frequencies. Have not had it in my gear for ages now but when i idid have this feature in an HK amp it said the loudness automatically would cut off beyond a certain volume level and only compensated the LF freq at low listening levels. I found a bloated bass with this feature on. Also Muthu why would u set the bass at MAX? If at all u are tinkering with the tone controls try it in moderation. Fully rotating the bass + loudness is not the best solution IMO.
Lastly one can never tell the power being delivered at a given volume level so ur ears will tell u when the amp has had enough!
Regards

 

[santosh titus]

Hi everybody,

This was an important issue for me , power matching of speakers & amp.

I've short listed Onkyo TX-SR 606 and Klipsch F2 . Amp is of 140W and speakers are of 100W/ 8 Ohms /95.5 dB.

What are your opinion on Klipsch Speakers.

 

[delhite2]

recently bought rf82, awesome speakers, i have heard elac, jamo, bose lifestyle 48 and sony, but there's nothing like klipsch.
klipsch have real (i mean REAL) life like theatre sound (even better), they present very upfront clear-cut details and give excellent throat geometry.
Klipsch Speakers are excellent value for money.
one thing once you have klipsch, i can be pretty sure that you'll start to dislike the sound in the best of theatres.

 

[venkatcr]

That's right. I am not sure about the warranty but definitely Mark will provide service support. Yesterday, I tested my setup with Kaaka Kaaka songs at different levels. Speakers sound beautiful but if the bass is max and loudness button is turned on, the woofers rattle somewhat at 50% volume, for the track "Oru Ooril Azhage...". For the song "Kalayana then nila..." from Mounam Sammadham, speakers sound amazing with full bass and loudness button even at higher volumes. May be the quality of recording is excellent or the instruments selection was great. You can also the song if you have. I have also tested the song "Ilamai edho edho..." (Movie: Sakala Kala Vallavan) and "En uyire vaa, enaaruge" (Movie: Poonthotta Kaaval Karan) and amazed by the orchestration.

Regards,
Muthu

I agree with Dinyaar. You should generally keep the system flat - in other words, the treble, tone, and bass controls should be kept at zero position. That way you will listen to the music the way it was originally played and recorded.

When I visited Mark's offices I listened to his system without any artificial boost of frequencies, and they sounded nice. Though Mark did increase the treble and bass, I set them back to zero, before listening to music.

If your system lacks in something, I am sure Mark will be happy to correct them for you.

In Indian film music the drum are usually tabla in Hindi and maybe a Mridungam in Tamil. Of course new songs are also supported by western drums. But none of these drums are very large. Their sound should be a short 'thwack' without an echo or reverberation. There are of course the Japanese drums that are huge and create a different sound.

In well played and well recorded music, the low frequencies of drums should be an accompaniment to the main singer's or instrument's voice or sound. This, in my opinion, is the best way to listen to music.

I could suggest you to get one or more of the following CDs. There is lot of drums in these music and they have been recorded well. Listen to them and set your system to a level that is comfortable and sounds natural. Listen to all your other music with the same settings.

1. 'Colours' featuring Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and Zakhir Hussai. Released by Cresendo Music.
2. 'Drums of Fire' featuring James Asher and Sivamani. released by Times Music.
3. 'Voyage' by Rajhesh Vaidhya. Released by Nandham Music. This is a fusion number featuring Veena, Keyboards, Flute, Tabla, Pakhawaj, drums and Percussion.

Cheers

 

[Muthusami S]

Hi Dinyaar,

You are very much correct. Even I felt the bloated bass when loudness is on. I did that because of ignorance and won't do it in future. Thank you very much for correcting me.

Regards,
Muthusami. S

Hi Muthu,
Once again i mention that i am not familiar with ur system at all. Regardless IMO the LOUDNESS feature is only to be used (if at all one chooses to use it) at low volumes as it artificially tampers/modifies the frequencies. Have not had it in my gear for ages now but when i idid have this feature in an HK amp it said the loudness automatically would cut off beyond a certain volume level and only compensated the LF freq at low listening levels. I found a bloated bass with this feature on. Also Muthu why would u set the bass at MAX? If at all u are tinkering with the tone controls try it in moderation. Fully rotating the bass + loudness is not the best solution IMO.
Lastly one can never tell the power being delivered at a given volume level so ur ears will tell u when the amp has had enough!
Regards

 

[Muthusami S]

I agree with Dinyaar. You should generally keep the system flat - in other words, the treble, tone, and bass controls should be kept at zero position. That way you will listen to the music the way it was originally played and recorded.

When I visited Mark's offices I listened to his system without any artificial boost of frequencies, and they sounded nice. Though Mark did increase the treble and bass, I set them back to zero, before listening to music.

If your system lacks in something, I am sure Mark will be happy to correct them for you.

In Indian film music the drum are usually tabla in Hindi and maybe a Mridungam in Tamil. Of course new songs are also supported by western drums. But none of these drums are very large. Their sound should be a short 'thwack' without an echo or reverberation. There are of course the Japanese drums that are huge and create a different sound.

In well played and well recorded music, the low frequencies of drums should be an accompaniment to the main singer's or instrument's voice or sound. This, in my opinion, is the best way to listen to music.

I could suggest you to get one or more of the following CDs. There is lot of drums in these music and they have been recorded well. Listen to them and set your system to a level that is comfortable and sounds natural. Listen to all your other music with the same settings.

1. 'Colours' featuring Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and Zakhir Hussai. Released by Cresendo Music.
2. 'Drums of Fire' featuring James Asher and Sivamani. released by Times Music.
3. 'Voyage' by Rajhesh Vaidhya. Released by Nandham Music. This is a fusion number featuring Veena, Keyboards, Flute, Tabla, Pakhawaj, drums and Percussion.

Cheers

Venkat,

Now I learnt some good things about how to listen music. Thank you very much for the suggestions. I will get the recommended albums soon.

Regards,
Muthusami. S

 

[vashok]

recently bought rf82, awesome speakers, i have heard elac, jamo, bose lifestyle 48 and sony, but there's nothing like klipsch.
klipsch have real (i mean REAL) life like theatre sound (even better), they present very upfront clear-cut details and give excellent throat geometry.
Klipsch Speakers are excellent value for money.
one thing once you have klipsch, i can be pretty sure that you'll start to dislike the sound in the best of theatres.

Hi Delhite2
Could you share the price which you paid for the klipsch ?

Thanks,
Ashok

 

[Absolute Phase]

Before forum expert/s pitch in , I would like to add something. Driving a high power capacity speaker with a very low powered amp is more dangarous than a high power amp driving slightly less power capacity speaker.

It is the low power amp when maxed out , clips and causes maximum damage to speakers.

You are right Suhas, better to drive a 100w speaker with a 150 or even a 200w amp. Reason is that the amp has enough of reserve of clean undistorted power to deliver. Yes the speakers will blow up after their max capacity but at very loud levels.

ITs very easy to blow up a 100w speaker with even a 5watt amp, as the output waveform is clipped and you are sending DC straight into the speakers, first thing to go will be ur tweeters.

 

[ashokec]

Hi

Could somebody explain how this is possible? (quoted post)
As per my understanding, if the the speaker has matching impedance of amplifier the maximum current amp can deliver is it's maximum voltage divided by impedance. Since the max voltage and impedance is in the design consideration it can not deliver over current.

Before forum expert/s pitch in , I would like to add something. Driving a high power capacity speaker with a very low powered amp is more dangarous than a high power amp driving slightly less power capacity speaker.

It is the low power amp when maxed out , clips and causes maximum damage to speakers.

 

[jagdish_p]

Hi

Could somebody explain how this is possible? (quoted post)
As per my understanding, if the the speaker has matching impedance of amplifier the maximum current amp can deliver is it's maximum voltage divided by impedance. Since the max voltage and impedance is in the design consideration it can not deliver over current.

I am no expert but bear in mind that the impedance of the speaker is not an absolute value like a resistor. The speaker has a moving coil in a magnet and generates a back emf . This does not happen when you feed DC or clipped sound wave as explained above by Absolute Phase.