Myles B. Astor
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2013
- Messages
- 2,884
Thanks for the feedback, Bob- although I have been specific that tube-friendly should be a 100w amp. Magico inflates their specs as they measure sensitivity into a 4 ohm load, not the standard 8 ohm one. And the Q5 measured at 84db, so I'm not cherry pickingThe Q3 and S5 are around 87dbs, although I've heard the S5 is actually easier to drive. Martin Colloms says in his S5 review that the S5 prefers SS amplification but for tube needs 200+ tube watts/15A.
I certainly don't believe SET and Q5s is acceptable. As SET distortion increases with power, probably means 5%+ distortion is common at average levels on Q5s. Ralph Karsten suggests the speaker be able to be driven at 20% of SET rated power to avoid audible distortion- on the Lamms that is 2W. 2W into a 84db speaker isn't enough.
I should also clarify that I'm pretty sensitive to dynamics and ease having lived with high efficiency speakers for 6 years. Funny story- after a recent S5/Vac demo, I went to a Shindo night- 100db Shindo Latour speakers on 18W amps in a similar size space. Much, much more effortless, dynamic sound compared to 450W amps on the 87db Magicos. Now that's only one component of sound, but go figure.
So much depends on your room size and type of music you listen to. I've heard the 50 watt SET Audio Note Kagura sound sublime on the Magico S3s.
One speaker tube amplifier combination no one mentioned are the Maggie 3.7s and cj amplifiers. That's been a great combo since the release of the 3.0. The cjs just love that 4 ohm load.
