Is 15W enough to drive Dyn 3.3?

thanks for all the commments. I guess I better start shopping around for another pair of speakers.

Definitely not - I'd take the advice to contact Dynaudio to investigate with them. I've seen them quoted as saying that the Contour 1.8's are tube-friendly, though I don't know that 15 watts SET are enough there either. Dynaudios definitely like their power / current. -Kirk

Don't even think about it . I have the Contours and they really suck up the power. Besides requiring a lot of power, they are a four ohm speaker. SET's like an eight ohm or higher load. If your thinking about going single ended I would consider the Pass Labs Aleph amps. They are single ended class A solid state amps. The Aleph 4 (100 wpc stereo amp) or the Aleph 2 (100 wpc mono amps) would be a good match. They are no longer in production, but can be found used. There are many reviews of the amps at Audio Review.com. If you want to go the low power SET route you will have to get different speakers.

The guess of the top of my head is "NO WAY". Dynaudio's use very "parts heavy" crossovers and are known to be "power suckers". Even with the "tube watts are more powerful than SS watts" argument, that amount of power will barely make those speakers "flinch".

In terms of of using a 15 wpc amp, i would look for speakers that were at least 95 - 96 db's unless your room was relatively small. Keep in mind that dispersion patterns and listening distances come into play with equations like this. A 96 db horn load sounds a LOT louder than a dynamic driver of the same sensitivity at a 10' distance. Another key factor would be the the type of music that you listen to. This will also dictate quite a bit about what will work and what won't. Rock & roll will eat up power much faster than classical music ( on an average basis ). Then again, i doubt that your "headbanging" if your considering low powered tubes and using Dynaudio's : ) Sean
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If your room is large, you need at least 95dB sensitivity to approach the dynamics of live music with only 15 watts. In a smaller room the sensitivity matters less because of the room reinforcement.
Dynaudios have around 87dB sensitivity, and the 3.3s have several drivers, an additionally taxing load for an amp.

I recall the documentation that came with the Dynaudio Contour 3.3's, suggesting a minimum of 100 wpc.

Email the folks at Dynaudio. They are very serious about their advice and they know their speakers well. Dale

JT-Thanks for the comment. Does anyone know what's the minimum Db (for speakers) that performs well with a 15W SET tube amp?

Follow your instincts. :)

I do not doubt they will sound pretty good, I just think you will not be able to get the most out of them with that little power.

Good luck.