Morton Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Hi Friends, What klipsch speakers are easy to drive with low wattage tube amps? I imagine the heresy is one and the klipschorn. What others. I have a low wattage tube amp I pulled from a console and would like to experiment. Any input is appreciated. Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 While others are most likely to become pretty granular in their responses, may I suggest that any of the higher sensitivity speakers will be fine. There are camps here who swear by this approach and others who are not so keen on the idea, but may I suggest that I have heard (the Heritage) series sound very fine with BOTH tube and SS amps. My only caveat with the low powered amps would be to resist running the amp in a non-linear range (eg at high output levels), as the distortion, while perhaps not being audibly irritating, is not good for the speakers. But as the Klipsch are highly sensitive, the likelihood of your running them in this range is reduced... Bottom line: Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 K-horns, require 1 watt input. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 K-horns, require 1 watt input. JJK All speakers "require" 1 watt to make some noise. Almost all speakers will "play" music with as little as 1 watt. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> The difference is that efficient speakers, like Khorn, La Scala, Cornwall and Heresy[1] (in descending order of efficiency) will actually play music at realistic levels with as little as 1 watt. With efficient speakers, its more important to have a few clean (low distortion) watts rather than mega-watts. Speaker efficiency is often counter-intuitive. Small speakers, like my LS3/5A mini-monitors, require a lot of power to sound good, whereas large speakers, Like Khorns do not. You cant cheat the laws of physics. If you try to get low frequencies and/or high volume out of small enclosures, you better bring lots of watts. [1] There are other Klipsch speakers (as well as other brands) that are efficient, but I've got no experience with Klipsch, other than Heritage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I think anything in the Heritage line will work fine. The more efficient the better, but I wouldn't hesitate to drive even the Heresy with a lower powered amp. It's not going to produce concert level SPLs, but IMO that's bad for the ears anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morton Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Thanks guys, I appreciate all your thoughts. I found a nice old maganvox console with an 8 watt amp and a surprisingly complex preamp. The preamp has five pairs of inputs (this is around a mid 60's model). It even has an input that says 'sub'. What's that about? I'm going to remove it all and see what I have. Test the tubes, clean it etc. I might even run my luxman preamp into the amp and see what that produces. I do have a pair of 4 ohm Kg4's that I have run with a tube amp to some success, but that tube amp is an EL84 type and has more power. Thanks,bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Tubes ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Klipsch ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornfan Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 I might even run my luxman preamp into the amp and see what that produces. I have a tube amp from a CONN organ and have run it with my Carver pre-amp with great results on a pair of RF-3 II's. Not sure of the power ( maybe approaching 35 watts) and I can produce pretty good amounts of volume and I like my music loud. HF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerin Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 i have a pair of KLF-20"s that i run with a motorola console amp [el-84 in p.p.] and run it with either a DARED pre or a PARASOUND s/state pre and this booger sound's VER VERY VERY good on the 20's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
126mhz Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 I have a pair of LaScalas, (104db) and KP301, (101db) and I continue to drive them both with either a pair of mid fiftys Ampex 620 Monos that have been conppletely gone through with new caps, etc. They were rated at 12watts each and show to clip at about 10watts on a scope. They will blow out the windows of my house at about half volume on a McIntosh C11 tube pre. Of course the Dynaco ST70 I have is WAY overkill with even the hardest of AC/DC! Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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