Tekton Double Impacts

I totally agree with Charles. People LOVE the coloration added by tubes. And that is great. I  personally don't. I want my signal path to be as close to the proverbial "wire with gain" as possible. It it wasn't "warm" when it was recorded. I don't want it to sound "warm" in my listening environment. I want a clean sheet of paper, then if I want to add characteristics, I can do that digitally and totally control it. But to Charles' point, we should be buying what sounds good to us. And then throw in the varying listening environments, music types, listening levels. All our expectations are different and that's OK. The one comment in this whole thread that rubs me the wrong way is when it was stated that if you every hear a SET amp, you'll never like anything else, or something to that effect. 

Al, what about dynamic headroom and the role it plays when listening to a particular style or type of music? Below is your explanation on how 1 watt can work with the DI speakers. However I see little mention of dynamic headroom in your comments below? Dynamically challenging music forms would certainly cause the 1 watt amp to show more of its limitations.

I have no doubt that this 1 watt amp can play less dynamically challenging music forms to satisfactory listening levels, but when far more power is needed for those short dynamic peaks on certain kinds of music, one would think the little amp that could would run out of gas. Love to hear your thoughts. Thanks Al.

"The speaker is rated to produce an SPL of 98.82 db at 1 meter for an input of 2.83 volts. Let’s call it 99 db. 2.83 volts into 4 ohms corresponds to 2 watts. So the 99 db becomes 96 db for a 1 watt input. Assuming that falls off with increasing distance at a rate of 6 db per doubling of distance, which is typical for non-planar speakers, at a typical listening distance of say 10 or 12 feet the 96 db would be reduced to about 86 db. If both of the speakers that are present are supplied with 1 watt, the overall acoustic power that is radiated into the room would increase by 3 db, relative to the output of a single speaker, but the increase would approach 6 db if the listener is approximately centered. That brings us to 92 db. “Room gain,” i.e., the effects of reflected energy in the room, would conceivably add something like 3 db or so. That brings us to 95 db. And probably another few db would be added as a result of some combination of dynamic headroom, conservatism in the 1 watt spec, and a small amount of clipping that would not be perceivable as such. Voila!

Here is a simple definition of dynamic headroom given by a fellow Agoner on another thread. 
" In plain English
...means an ability to reproduce a large interval between 'quiet' and 'loud'.
The sound system (mainly defined with amplifier and speakers for dynamic headroom) with large dynamic headroom does not compromise the sound quality with large increase or decrease of sound."

Hi Bill (Grannyring),

My post attempts to explain how the DI/MicroZOTL combo can produce **peak** volumes approaching 100 db at typical listening distances, as has been reported here. Most listeners, of course, do not listen at average volume levels that are even remotely close to 100 db. And as I’m sure you’ll realize an average level of a more typical 80 db, for example, would require the amp to deliver an average of only 1% of the amount of power it would have to deliver to produce a 100 db peak.

So my explanation takes into account the need to produce brief dynamic peaks that are much higher than the average level, for most listeners (not including me, as I said) on most or all of their recordings. Although as I said I can’t offer an opinion as to how the combo would sound in doing so. But in that regard I find the numerous experience-based reports that have been provided here to be compelling, and well within the bounds of plausibility.

Best regards,
-- Al

The 1 Watt output has been accepted de rigueur.

Has anyone bench measured the actual power output of the MZ2S?

Thanks Al. I understand your comments and still question the ability of a 1 watt amp to scale large orchestral crescendos and the like. Many listeners do listen at weighted average db levels of 86-92db when off the leash. Peaks, clean peaks, would push the amp too close to its max and even beyond.

After owning several speakers ranging from 90-95 efficiency ( Acoustic Zen Crescendos, Coincident Total Victory II, Lahave two-ways) it became clear that 8-40 tube watts was not enough to handle dynamics in some music. Sure the room could be filled with great music at 80-85 average db on vocals, some jazz, and pop. However, more dynamic music or recordings with low gain, sounded fragile and a tad nervous. Classical piano is another place where it became clear more power was needed.

I must admitt the thought of 1 watt, never-mind 8, working in most modest size rooms on lower gain recordings, classical piano, and classical music is challenging to me. Perhaps challenging is too kind a word, impossible to me 😊