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tubes or ss?


sberger

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Hey, I missed this. I drink beer, but only if it's from one of the many Boston area brewpubs (including a great one in my home town).

Does that mean I have to get a 55W pp amp? Or is there a brewpub clause that lets me keep the amps I have?

Leo

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On 4/19/2005 2:55:01 AM edwinr wrote:

Low powered SET amps tend to sacrifice the frequency extremes and offer a superbly transparent window into the important midrange.

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Could this be simulated on an integrated amp or receiver by turning the treble and bass controls all the way off?

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On 4/21/2005 11:51:42 AM DeanG wrote:

rotflol -- back in with a bang!
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S.O.S.D.D.

The crap about if you drink beer, you should have PP, is one step beyond the worse "class" arguments. You of the "110db LOL" club are the true audio snobs, though you always pretend you're the "everyman's" representative. Give it a rest!

Klipsch out.

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On 4/21/2005 1:30:43 PM jazman wrote:

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On 4/21/2005 11:51:42 AM DeanG wrote:

rotflol -- back in with a bang!

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S.O.S.D.D.

The crap about if you drink beer, you should have PP, is one step beyond the worse "class" arguments. You of the "110db LOL" club are the true audio snobs, though you always pretend you're the "everyman's" representative. Give it a rest!

Klipsch out.

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wow!

seems someone is off his meds today!

in case you missed it - the comments are all in fun

9.gif9.gif9.gif

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Be careful, we might have to put on our chainmail and gauntlets, swing our morning stars ......... and throw our sixty-pound push-pull amps (only the rusty, non-working ones). 9.gif

Or.... just sit down and have a beer instead - and forget the whole thing (but no group hugs).

Carl.

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  • 1 month later...

so thought i should come back to add some closure to this thing. i've had the decware taboo in the system now for a few weeks, and i dare anybody to come over and tell me i don't have enough power. it's almost too loud. now, maybe i have a small room, maybe the bottlehead foreplay pre has a lot of gain, and maybe, just maybe, and i know this could never be, the taboo's advertised 6 watts p/c are enough with my heresy's. who knows. i do know that this blasts enough so i turn it down even before my wife instructs me to. oh yeah, it sounds beautiful. truly stunning. especially midrange. but plenty of bass. and did i mention it's loud? you're in a 500 seat club, center stage when this thing is blasting.

really cool little amp.

just thought i'd let y'all know how it turned out.

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On 5/30/2005 10:07:03 PM sberger wrote:

so thought i should come back to add some closure to this thing. i've had the decware taboo in the system now for a few weeks, and i dare anybody to come over and tell me i don't have enough power. it's almost too loud. now, maybe i have a small room, maybe the bottlehead foreplay pre has a lot of gain, and maybe, just maybe, and i know this could never be, the taboo's advertised 6 watts p/c are enough with my heresy's. who knows. i do know that this blasts enough so i turn it down even before my wife instructs me to. oh yeah, it sounds beautiful. truly stunning. especially midrange. but plenty of bass. and did i mention it's loud? you're in a 500 seat club, center stage when this thing is blasting.

really cool little amp.

just thought i'd let y'all know how it turned out.

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Granted I have never heard the Taboo personally, but if six watts is almost too loud, I think what you're experiencing is clipping. I am guessing that's what is likely fatiguing to your ears. JMHO and a guess on my part mind you. And just for the record, my intent is not to flame you.

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no flame taken. and for the record, i never stated that i was being "fatigued" by what i was hearing. in fact, too the opposite. i'm pretty sure there is no clipping going on. when i say it's almost "too loud" you must understand that i'm speaking in context of my listening conditions. i do have a small room, and i do have a wife and a 7 yr old. so i'm really never able to listen too loud to begin with. but i'm able to get the taboo up to listening levels that are more than enough, and when i'm alone, i can get this thing pumping. doubt if you wish. but i do think it has a ton to with the pre's gain capabilities, and the capabilities of the heresy's and this terrific amp.

anyhow, i'm damn happy, and this is for anybody else who is curious about trying out a low powered amp and might be scared away by some of the, er, enthusiastic opinions to the contrary on this thread.

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If it's up past 12-1 o'clock I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that it's starting to clip. You may already know this, but when a tube amp clips it is not nearly as pronounced as it would be with an SS amp.

As long as you're happy that's all that counts. Some nerve I have. Who am I to tell you what you should like? 2.gif I am glad that you enjoy your system. Congrats! 1.gif

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well, there are others that would disagree with you about the 12:00 thing. but you're right, too each his own. i am able to run this thing at 9 or 10 o'clock and it's sounds great, although admittedley i normally run between 12-2 with my pre pretty much on full. but hardly ever need to go beyond 2. and when i do(just to, y'know, have a lttle fun...)doesn't feel at all like i'm pushing it. similiar comments at decware.com, but i'm sure there's a lot of skeptics about that forum, just like there seems to be the same over there about this place.

anyhow, thanks for your comments.

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Congrats on your Taboo, sberger. Glad you're happy with your lil' 6 watter. I'm quite content with my 8 watt SET; 90dB is plenty loud for me in my small listening room (clipping begins at 107dB peak), and I'm driving 91dB sensitive Triangles! With my Cornwalls, clipping didn't occur until about 115dB, and that would make my ears bleed in my room!

It doesn't matter what anyone says concerning when compression begins with your system; as long as you're totally satisfied with the output of your amp at the low to medium levels to which you generally listen with your Heresys, then that's all that matters most! Afterall, it's your system and your ears, and if you enjoy what comes out of it, then who else is to say that you're not reaching "your" musical nirvana!

Happy listening.2.gif

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thanks for your comments. curious what kind of amp/pre/speakers you're running.

by the way, i didn't mention that with my cd player(ah! njoeb tjoeb 4000 w/upsampler) it's much easier to get some mighty powerful punch than it is with my vinyl set up. however, the analog is what i got the amp for in the first place, and it has absolutly not dissapointed me. wonder what took me so long...

anyway, thanks again.

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Quite aside from the low power Single ended / higher power push pull discussion Decware seems to be one of those products that brings out very strong reactions in people.

There are Decware lovers and Decware haters (amongst those that have heard them anyway). Few, if any, are on the fence on this make.

For what its worth I have the Decware ZTPRE (their pre-amp if the name is not obvious) and have been delighted with it for over 3 years now. I have never yet heard one of their amps and so can have no opinion on those.

As for 6 watts (or any figure) being enough or otherwise it all seems to come down to what we define as loud. As typical conversational noise levels are around 75 dB (from memory) loud could mean, for some 80 dB plus.

For the sake of argument let us use 85 dB as loud for a given individual as their definition of loud - as an RMS figure. Transient Peaks could be 12 dB higher easily. That would make 97 dB. In a smallish room with Heresy's that may well not be much more than a watt or 2 - and this is to cover the peaks.

In other words - according to the example individual's definition of loud 6 watts is capable of going VERY loud indeed - a good 3 dB louder on peaks than their definition of loud.

It is also worth pointing out that transient peaks, by their nature, do not last very long (duh!!). The occasional clip on one of these may not make one jot of difference to the listener - especially with the benign clipping characteristics of single ended amps. This would imply that the RMS values could be 6 dB higher (now really, really loud for this listener) with clipping being unnoticed due to the combination of its short duration and lack of harshness.

Hopefully none of the above is undermined by the fact that I have just described my own listening habits to a T and yet I run a 70 wpc ultralinear monster tube amp capable of going VERY LOUD INDEED.

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On 5/31/2005 4:06:58 AM maxg wrote:

It is also worth pointing out that transient peaks, by their nature, do not last very long (duh!!).

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Nice one, Max! But, no, they don't last very long. I suggest that some amplifiers don't even attempt these 'transient peaks'. Regardless of their so-called power rating. Instead, they compress the signal somewhat. Much like AM radio, I guess. Not unpleasent, it's just what they do.

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