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Why is an XA30.5 a bad match for Revel Ultima Salon II speakers?

I actually own Revel M106 speakers right now, but some day, I intend to replace them with full range speakers like the Wilson Sophia II or Revel Salon II.

People say you need a lot of power to drive the Salons. The M106 and Salon II have almost the same sensitivity, and the XA30.5 can play the M106 louder than I prefer to listen (FYI I have a Velodyne powered sub). I guess my ears are pretty sensitive to loud volumes.

Does having all the mass of driving full range woofers into the 20hz range increase or complicate the workload on the amp significantly?

What is it about these speakers and many others that would demand a larger amp even at moderate volumes? My XA30.5 is supposed to be good for about 190W into 4 ohms, but nobody, including Pass Labs, seems to recommend an amp of that size for the Revel Salon II.

If I were to buy the Salons but had no amp budget, would I be better off trading for a more powerful but somewhat lesser quality amp than the XA30.5 such as a Parasound?
sboje
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Get Pass 350.8 350ch plenty of power.

calvinj
2,277 posts
 
Had the studio 2.  You need more power.  Revel sounds great but with more power.   They sound better. 
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Thanks for the link, it was a nifty tool for discovering I needed to tighten up an air conditioning duct cover when my Salon 2s made it buzz at 20.1 Hz!
welcome! good to read it was useful....
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Bombaywalla,

How do you think my ARC Ref 150 SE tube amp would fare with the Ultima Salons?

My amp has 4, 8 and 16 ohm output taps.  I surmise that the 4 ohm taps would work best with the Salons given its lowish impedance in the low frequencies.  I seem to recall that the output impedance off the 4 ohm taps is about a half an ohm.  Rated power off the 4 ohm tap is well north of 150 watts if driving a 4 ohm load.

Reason for question:  I've had Salons on my radar screen for a while.
xti16
1,525 posts
 
@bifwynne 
Depends how loud you like to listen. Tubes are fantastic from top to bottom until you want max spl. As you hit the upper limit of tubes the highs and mids will increase in loudness but the lows will peter out and stay consistent. That said if your normal listening level is in the upper 80/low 90db the ARC should be fine. 95db peaks should be fine but once you push 100/100+ db the lows peter out IMO.
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