As usual, I like what Paul has to say.
Along those lines, I'd like to offer some agreement to one particular point he makes, even if the way I will state it will come off as either unorthodox or just plain flaky...
One thing that we noticed in playing around with various combinations of amplifiers and loudspeakers is that while numbers surely can point towards some conclusion, you can sometimes get trapped into a certain line of thinking that does not mesh with the way things actually turn out.
To elaborate, we used to have sessions with the Lamhorns where we listened with three pairs of monoblock amplifiers - the 15 wpc Cyber 300B PSE (parallel single-ended), the 16 wpc Cyber 211 (SET), and the 78 wpc Cyber 800 6CA7 (push-pull), all amplifiers operate in pure Class A and were built by the same company (so a certain amount of family flavor is going to make it into the designs, even if it seems not to be the case in this instance - but, I think we'll allow that if one of the amps were made by Cary or Quicksilver, there would be some flow of their own designer's thinking into them and enhance the differences beyond the obvious differences in topology). Turning our expectations kind of on their ear, the most powerful amplifier simply was unable to form a synergistic match with the backloaded horn, and just seemed not to be able to put the same kind of power that the Cyber 211 could. Yes, in certain aspects, the push-pull amp could certainly play louder, but the overall power curve seemed to be strongly in the 211's favor. And, for what it's worth, the seat of the pants differences between the 300B PSE and 211 were significant, regardless of just one watt per channel separating them on paper. Still, the 300B PSE also easily bested the EL34 amp in being able to align its output with the backloaded horn design.
Of course, with the typical sealed or ported dynamic loudspeaker, the results were the opposite, and the push-pull amp would walk away from its two lower wattage siblings, which suits the conventional wisdom.
My overall point here is there are many things left to be learned, and no amount of is going to undo what we witnessed that day. In the end, I think the point Paul makes in comparing the Hyperions and Lamhorns is echoed by me. And, I circle back to my initial post that were I deciding on what speaker to pair with a pair of Cyber 211, it would be a backloaded horn. The question is, do their inherent flaws, which ALL loudspeakers possess, mesh with you well enough for you to be able to live with them?
Along those lines, I'd like to offer some agreement to one particular point he makes, even if the way I will state it will come off as either unorthodox or just plain flaky...
One thing that we noticed in playing around with various combinations of amplifiers and loudspeakers is that while numbers surely can point towards some conclusion, you can sometimes get trapped into a certain line of thinking that does not mesh with the way things actually turn out.
To elaborate, we used to have sessions with the Lamhorns where we listened with three pairs of monoblock amplifiers - the 15 wpc Cyber 300B PSE (parallel single-ended), the 16 wpc Cyber 211 (SET), and the 78 wpc Cyber 800 6CA7 (push-pull), all amplifiers operate in pure Class A and were built by the same company (so a certain amount of family flavor is going to make it into the designs, even if it seems not to be the case in this instance - but, I think we'll allow that if one of the amps were made by Cary or Quicksilver, there would be some flow of their own designer's thinking into them and enhance the differences beyond the obvious differences in topology). Turning our expectations kind of on their ear, the most powerful amplifier simply was unable to form a synergistic match with the backloaded horn, and just seemed not to be able to put the same kind of power that the Cyber 211 could. Yes, in certain aspects, the push-pull amp could certainly play louder, but the overall power curve seemed to be strongly in the 211's favor. And, for what it's worth, the seat of the pants differences between the 300B PSE and 211 were significant, regardless of just one watt per channel separating them on paper. Still, the 300B PSE also easily bested the EL34 amp in being able to align its output with the backloaded horn design.
Of course, with the typical sealed or ported dynamic loudspeaker, the results were the opposite, and the push-pull amp would walk away from its two lower wattage siblings, which suits the conventional wisdom.
My overall point here is there are many things left to be learned, and no amount of is going to undo what we witnessed that day. In the end, I think the point Paul makes in comparing the Hyperions and Lamhorns is echoed by me. And, I circle back to my initial post that were I deciding on what speaker to pair with a pair of Cyber 211, it would be a backloaded horn. The question is, do their inherent flaws, which ALL loudspeakers possess, mesh with you well enough for you to be able to live with them?