Egglestonworks Andra II: How difficult a load?


I'd like to upgrade to these speakers. They will be paired with Cary CAD 211 AE monoblocks in a 20ft x 25ft room. Will I have enough power to drive them given their 4ohm load with 89dB efficiency? I like to play loud rock at times, although I mostly listen to jazz/blues/pop at moderate volumes. Unfortunately, I'm buying used and I can't audition them with my amps.

Thanks all.
robal

Showing 1 response by kurt_tank

I think you might have enough power if you run the amps in A/B mode, as your amp has 100 wpc that way, right?
In pure Class A mode, you only have 70 wpc, which I think would not quite be enough to get the full bass response you can obtain from these speakers.

I am using Lamm M2.1 monoblocks, which have 200 wpc. I have plenty of power, and the bass response is incredible. (In fact, I think there is slightly too much bass for my room, and I am getting ready to start installing room treatments to tame the slight mid-bass hump I seem to have. My room is 24' x 16' x 8', which unfortunately means lots of room nodes.)

I think having 100 wpc would be barely enough given the size of your room, which is slightly larger than my own. However, I think 200 wpc would be better, IMHO anyway.
(However, if you really want these speakers, you can always give them a shot with your current amp, and if it doesn't work out, you can always upgrade the amp at a later date. Been there, done that!)

I have recently upgraded to these speakers a few months ago. I like them a lot so far, and they have the potential to be my last pair of speakers. I will state that these speakers require a lot of work to get them to sound their best though, as they are much more difficult than any speaker I've ever had to set up before - well, at least in my room! I have tweaked their position, and toe-in, several times, until I have them where they sound very good. And, I think I might be able to tweak them some more to get slightly better sound, but I am having too much fun listening to them now to bother! (They are much more finicky than my Revel Studios were, or even my Martin Logan Sequel IIs, in terms of ease of setting them up.)

FYI: Take my last statement as a "heads-up" word of advice, as I am not trying to put you off getting these speakers, as I think they have the potential of being as close to the Rockport Antares (my favorite, but out of my financial reach, speaker!), as I can afford. They have a great tweeter, with lots of HF extension, the mid-range is fantastic, and the bass response is very deep, quick and powerful. (They image and soundstage nicely too, and the speakers seem to disappear about as good as any speaker I've ever heard.) And yes, these speakers can play LOUD! (I too like rock, as well as Jazz and pop.)

My two cents worth.

PS Feel free to contact me with any other questions you might have.