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Atma-Sphere amps with Eggleston Andra II's

I own a pair of Atma-Sphere MA2 Mk2.3 OTL monoblocks that are probably the one part of my system that will staying put for a long, long time. Currently, speakers are Dynaudio Confidence C2's. Preamp is an Atma-Sphere MP1 MkIII.

I'm looking to change/upgrade my speakers. As good as the C2's are, i.e., extremely coherent, very natural and detailed, nonfatiguing, they certainly don't have much "slam" factor. Now, I mostly listen to classical, jazz, and female vocals at moderate levels, but once in awhile still throw on some Cream, ZZ Top, Seger, ELP or whatever that demands some volume and presence in the low frequencies. I have been reading that the Andra II's can provide most, if not all, of the C2's traits but also add the missing lower octave and slam.

My question to Andra II owners is this: will 220 watts of OTL power drive the Andra II's properly? The MA2's can handle 4 ohm loads without difficulty as long as there are no crazy phase shifts. I am mainly concerned about running my amps dry.

TIA.

Bill
billspecfoc

Showing 1 response by 1markr

1markr
592 posts
 
I totally agree that the Andras like a lot of power.

However, I'd have to question the need for 500w or more. I'm sure it depends on the amp, but I'm happily running my Andra IIs off of a BAT VK-500 amp w/ the BAT-PAK (250wpc into 8 ohms) and I have never felt that I need more power. They are firing into a decent sized room (25' x 20'). I occasionally listen at levels that average 95db, and on transient peaks, I notice no compression or clipping with this amp.

Perhaps a lot has to do with the amount of energy that the amp is able to store in its caps. The BAT with BAT-PAK stores a staggering 1100 joules vs. 350 joules with no BAT-PAK.

The speakers really do come alive above 85db, guitar and piano are simply stunning, and lifelike vocals to boot.
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