Is 60 watts of Luxman class A enough juice for SabrinaX?
- Thread starter slab
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GSOphile
Active member
What kind(s) of music do you play and at what levels?
GSOphile
Active member
If it were me, I'd looking for significantly more power (remember, doubling the power buys you only another 3dB). The SabrinaX is 87dB efficient, about average for a small floor stander. However, your listening levels are pretty loud, at least to me (especially if 90dB is an average level and not peak). Symphonic music is generally the most demanding from a dynamic standpoint (I'm assuming you'd be configuring your system based on its most demanding anticipated use).
u-sound
Active member
simply forget it !!
i ve heard the sabrinas with mutiple amps and the fun starts around 300w @8ohms
Paul
Senior Member
Chris. The 595 goes up to 95 watts when they leave the class A at 30 watts. I have been drive the 86 db speakers with no issue. Also, I really enjoyed the McIntosh Mc75 with Sabrina together. I bet your 595 will be great match as well.
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Coppy
Member
Agree with Paul,
You have the amplifier and it's a quality piece... try it on the speakers you want. You'll likely enjoy the combo. My Conrad-Johnson ART-27 gives me 36 class A watts to drive a slightly less efficient Yvette in a 20x30x12 room with plenty of power. The only reason to have hundreds of watts is to be further from distortion. The quality of your amplifier does that anyway. You only use the first few watts to drive speakers to over 90DB. I don't know what "fun" Mr. u-sound has beginning at 300 watts but I'd hate to be anywhere nearby. Audio is about the quality of sound, it's not a horse power ego trip.
You have the amplifier and it's a quality piece... try it on the speakers you want. You'll likely enjoy the combo. My Conrad-Johnson ART-27 gives me 36 class A watts to drive a slightly less efficient Yvette in a 20x30x12 room with plenty of power. The only reason to have hundreds of watts is to be further from distortion. The quality of your amplifier does that anyway. You only use the first few watts to drive speakers to over 90DB. I don't know what "fun" Mr. u-sound has beginning at 300 watts but I'd hate to be anywhere nearby. Audio is about the quality of sound, it's not a horse power ego trip.
slab
New member
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I have made my decisions differently. My choices are based upon my predominant listening preferences instead of configuring for a most demanding condition. Maybe you are suggesting that I think differently.
My regular listening is below 80 db, but there are times when we may want to turn it up a few notches. That could mean a peak of 93 db, but again, that is a peak.
My regular listening is below 80 db, but there are times when we may want to turn it up a few notches. That could mean a peak of 93 db, but again, that is a peak.
GSOphile
Active member
slab, this quote from The Absolute Sound review of the SabrinaX pretty much mirrors my experiences and preference:
"Let us discuss setup and equipment matching a bit before we turn to the SabrinaX’s sonic attributes. The speaker has an 87dB sensitivity and a 4-ohm nominal impedance, with a minimum of 2.6 ohms. My Naim Uniti Star all-in-one (70Wpc into 8 ohms, not specified but probably around 110Wpc into 4 ohms) ran the SabrinaX without issue. From a power standpoint, the Wilsons never sounded starved or fell apart, even at loud listening levels. Yet, when I shifted to the Dartzeel CTH-8550 mk2 integrated (what a combo!), with its 200Wpc into 8 ohms and 330Wpc into 4 ohms, the speakers came alive! As much as the quality of the Dartzeel’s sonics obviously had to do with that, the SabrinaX’s thrived on the added power and control."
Wilsons have a reputation for excellent dynamics and a 'liking' for power. Back in the day, I had 86dB efficient Aerial 10Ts driven by a Mark Levinson No. 331 (rated at 100 watts, 8 ohms; 200 watts 4 ohms) - all I could afford at the time and sounded fine, but the 10Ts clearly wanted more to sound their best.
This hobby is all about personal choices, so as always, YMMV!
"Let us discuss setup and equipment matching a bit before we turn to the SabrinaX’s sonic attributes. The speaker has an 87dB sensitivity and a 4-ohm nominal impedance, with a minimum of 2.6 ohms. My Naim Uniti Star all-in-one (70Wpc into 8 ohms, not specified but probably around 110Wpc into 4 ohms) ran the SabrinaX without issue. From a power standpoint, the Wilsons never sounded starved or fell apart, even at loud listening levels. Yet, when I shifted to the Dartzeel CTH-8550 mk2 integrated (what a combo!), with its 200Wpc into 8 ohms and 330Wpc into 4 ohms, the speakers came alive! As much as the quality of the Dartzeel’s sonics obviously had to do with that, the SabrinaX’s thrived on the added power and control."
Wilsons have a reputation for excellent dynamics and a 'liking' for power. Back in the day, I had 86dB efficient Aerial 10Ts driven by a Mark Levinson No. 331 (rated at 100 watts, 8 ohms; 200 watts 4 ohms) - all I could afford at the time and sounded fine, but the 10Ts clearly wanted more to sound their best.
This hobby is all about personal choices, so as always, YMMV!
GreyMouse
Member
I am descending the same rabbit hole but with the ARC Ref75se. An audition in a few weeks might shed some light, though it won’t be with my amp, obviously.
Big B
Member
What would you like foot to almost the floor or foot third of way and lots of room to go. I don't think 60 watts are going to cut it. You will be looking for power sooner than you planed. I don't if this in the budget Boulder 866 would be a very good start.
u-sound
Active member
cool to see you happy there with what i would call a borderline topology
did you ever try to be there?
thats the continuation from absolute sound:
Needless to say, the SabrinaX exploded with life and dynamics when driven by my reference Pilium Achilles stereo amp with its 600Wpc into 4 ohms. My point is simply that the SabrinaX can certainly provide the goods if matched to an affordable mid-power integrated. But to really let it show what it can do, you will need to feed it with higher-power and -quality equipment upstream; it will scale up with mesmerizing results.
the "fun" is when the speaker completly disapears, the bass comes alive and the image gets crisp. why else would you look for a wilson speaker?
please note, the yvettes and the sabrinaX are very different to drive. i ve spent a couple of hours with the yvettes driven by the dagostino progression integrated. it was ok. the same amp with the sX sounded slouchy and sticking at the speakers.
with dagostino and wilson it makes a lot of sense to buy the easier to drive sasha daw with the progression integrated. with the sabrinaX you want the seperates.
at home in a big room i went from 300watts@8 to 500 and again it was a big jump. it feels just to be the right power. others might be less powerhungry, however, the sabrinaX is NOT the right parner for small fine amps. even if people report they liked it with this and that.
BruceLet
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No. I have a pair and while they may sound very good with 60wpc, you will not get near their potential. I had a pair of Pass XA60.8s and a VAC 200IQ with them. They are great speakers and I love them, but until I put Pass XA 160.8 monos into the system , I had no idea how great they are. Living with them, my experience says that they want power. I am not only speaking about volume, they opened up in every way with more power.
You might consider the Pass 350.8. I haven't heard the combo, but within that budget, I think it would be a great match. I am using my Pass monos with a VAC Master preamp.
You might consider the Pass 350.8. I haven't heard the combo, but within that budget, I think it would be a great match. I am using my Pass monos with a VAC Master preamp.
u-sound
Active member
thats what i was trying to explain. take the 18k sabrina with a 40k amp....or better take the 40k sasha daw with a 18k amp.
i run my sX with heisenbergs and it makes sense sonicwise. before i had the alexia2 with humboldt. makes more sense, apart from the fact that my wife didnt like a big speaker like the alexia while she likes the little sabrinas.
His room wouldn’t tolerate a bigger speaker. It’s a tiny room. MAYBE 10 x 10. He does have a separate AC unit in that room for his love of Class A and tube amps. He did have Salon 2’s in that room and they sounded superb, but they aren’t bass giants.
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