Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: chowkwan%priam.usc.edu@usc.edu (Raymond Chowkwanyun)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Cheap Speakers, Expensive Amps
Message-ID: <8769@uwm.edu>
Date: 9 Jan 91 13:48:39 GMT
Sender: news@uwm.edu
Lines: 86
Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Recently Dave (?) posted an article arguing the
philosophy of "Expensive Speakers, Cheap Amps".

This is an argument for the opposite viewpoint:
"Cheap Speakers, Expensive Amps".

I have a pair of GNP 210's.  A generic sort of 3-way
dynamic speaker.  When I switched from an NAD receiver to
the VTL 90/90 the improvement was not to be believed.
It was like getting a new pair of speakers.

True, the VTL was 3 times the power of the NAD but
it wasn't just more muscle.  The entire quality of 
the music changed.  Tonal quality became more true
to life.  Singers and instruments sounded more as
if they were really in the room with you.  Violins
sounded more like violins, pianos like pianos.  
I am not a bass freak but I began getting more bass
out of this speaker than I would have believed possible.
And it was tight controlled bass - not flab.

For those interested in such things, the imaging 
also improved so that individual instruments stood out 
and remained rock steady.  

Moral: a good amp can raise the performance level of your
speakers.

Question: can a good speaker raise the performance level
of your amp?  I think the answer is "NO", based on the
"Garbage In Garbage Out" principle.  (OK, some of you
disagree but let's keep the discussion civil.)  

Heavens forfend, as long as I'm getting philosophical
let's let it all hang out:

1. I believe the amp has more influence on system sound 
than the speakers.  Consider that the amp has to take
an input signal on the order of millivolts and boost it
a thousand fold before feeding it to the speakers.
Perhaps ten thousand fold if you're using a moving coil
cartridge.  How can anything that has to perform so delicate
a task not have a powerful influence on the final sound?


2. Without in any way denigrating anyone on the net, I would
characterize the idea of "Cheap Amp, Expensive Speaker" as the
Stereo Review philosophy.  This goes something like 
"all amps measure the same, so all amps must sound the same,
so the speaker must have more impact on the sound than the amp".  
Stereo Review is so locked into the belief that only measurable
differences can be discerned that they keep spreading this
insiduous belief that all amps sound the same.  

3. Driver technology has made tremendous strides in the 
past few years.  Perhaps some technologist could tell us
why this is so?  It couldn't be because of computer analysis
of cone behaviour could it?  (e.g. KEF)  Consequently, you
can build a better speaker for fewer bucks than you could
even a few years ago.  Case in point: Spendor S100.  The most
astonishingly *tonally* accurate speaker I've heard.  Unfavourable
exchange rates have pushed the price from $2.1K to $2.7K but it's
still a bargain.  For those who prefer sharper imaging and
a more forward presentation, consider the Vieta.  Spanish made, 
with internal Van Den Hul wiring.  At less than $1K, 
this is the poor man's WATT.

I don't perceive amplifier technology as advancing at quite 
the same rate.  Therefore you can afford to spend less on your
speaker and still get comparable quality levels between speaker
and amp.


OK, let's try and help this poor guy with his problem of how
to power his K-Horns.  (All he wanted was some advice and
he gets this diatribe instead)  Have you considered the VTL
Tiny Triode?  Puts out 25 watts of pure Class A triode power
(I think the triode is more important than the Class A).
You get a pair of monoblocks for $1K.  

Need more power?  How about the VTL 120 with 45 watts of triode
power?  Again, a monoblock design.  Unfortunately, it costs $3K.  
Also unfortunately, it has lethal voltages at the anode cap.  
Not for households with small children and/or pets.

-- ray