@jrw159: One thing to know about open baffle woofers is that because of their inherent dipole cancellation characteristic (the front and rear waves meeting on either side of the open baffle frame, the opposite polarity waves causing a drop off in the very low frequencies), a dipole cancellation compensation network is necessary. Brian Ding installs just such a circuit into the A370 plate amp that is included in the Rythmik Audio OB/Dipole Subwoofer kit.
Eminent Technology 8b Speakers - Amp/wattage Recommendations
I recently purchased a nearly new pair of 8bs. I am now looking for an amplifier.
My preference is tubes over SS.
The room is 23x15x10 feet dedicated for music.
I like to play music fairly loud at times.
I will likely biamp, meaning whatever tube amp I end up using will receive a high-pass filtered signal and drive only the mid and high freq panel drivers.
I am aware that Bruce T recommends 75-200 watts.
I am considering two options, (a) Quicksilver KT monos with KT150 tubes (100 watts) and (b) another amp by a boutique builder using 4 KT 120 per side and 120 watts.
My preference is option (a), but worry that 100 watts is not sufficient.
I would appreciate any real-world experience on how many watts is practically needed with the 8bs. Are they as power hungry as I think they are, or is 100 watts more than enough?
Does bi-amping make a difference, meaning one can get away with using less watts since you are driving only the mids/high drivers and not the subs?
Any feedback or suggestions from 8b users would be appricated.
Thanks much!
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bdp24 thanks for the pointers on the Rymthmik plate amp. My subs, although dipoles, are different. Maybe a dozen years ago, there was a speaker company called Surreal Sound that made a speaker called Fifth Row. They never made it commercially. A few months back I managed to purchase on the cheap the modules needed to build their subs from the designer. Here is a link that shows the subs. The plan is to drive the subs with a QSC amp and the 8bs with probably the Quicksilvers.
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I have been listening to 8b’s for three years now. My room is 9 x 28, so quite a bit smaller than @jwr159. I am running a 20w Mactone-MH 300b tube amp, 300b in push- pull. I prefer this to the other 100w Von Gaylord Nirvana tube amp I own. 95db is easily achievable. Sorry no experience with the QS. But I can confirm that tubes are a great fit, and not as challenging a load as Maggies.
This is a total aside, but Bruce has come up with a 8c woofer upgrade. It’s a drop in replacement for the existing woofer units, but with a built-in plate amps, DSP room correction, a new crossover for the panels...etc. Any comments? I’ll take it to another thread, if the OP does not want the distraction. |
No worries at all ledoux1238 about discussing the 8c woofer upgrade in the context of this thread.
Unfortunately in my case, the 8c woofer upgrade was released by ET well after I invested money and a whole lot of labor into building my subs. So the 8c upgrade is a bit late for me. That said, if the 8bs have a weak link, it was the bass. I can only assume Bruce has addressed this issue with the 8c upgrade. |
There is a new listing on USAM for a Music Reference RM-200 MK.2, asking price $3,000. The amp has been Michael Fremer's "reasonably-priced" reference tube amp for about 20 years. Roger Modjeski's engineering brilliance allowed him to produce 100 watts out of a pair of KT88 tubes, and without sacrificing tube life. The amp has Classic written all over it. |
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