Current amp vs Voltage amp

Charles1dad -- Bombaywalla makes a fair point that many fine speakers have roller coaster impedance and phase angle plots. As I posted above, even the "mighty" Revel Ultima Salon 2's impedance plot is a bit of rock and roll.

OTOH, I think Bombaywalla's comment about me being in "sonic hell" may be a bit extreme. As I also posted above, the ARC Ref 150 and VS-115 amps were bench tested by different labs. Yet the results were consistent. As Ralph and Al explained, the use of NF reduces the output impedance of the amp, thereby making them more amenable to driving speakers with roller coaster impedance and phase angle plots. That is, somewhat SS-like.

Al also made a very important comment that even though the ARC amps FR plots were pretty flat at the speaker input interface, the most important stat is what comes out of the business end of the speaker. In the case of the S8s, they are rated, and have been bench tested to be very flat -- when driven by SS amps.

I surmise that by using the 4 ohm tap on my VS-115, which as Al thinks might reduce the output impedance of the VS-115, the S8's FR output might approach that achieved with a SS amp. Based on my subjective experience, since switching over to the 4 ohm taps, I think the S8s have a tighter bass response and are less forward as compared to using the 8 ohm taps.

BTW, I seem to recall that ARC uses Wilsons to voice their amps.

Bottom line: if I were to switch out my speakers to the Revels, I would probably also switch to a high current/high power SS amp, as recommended by Revel. At least Revel was honest enough to tell the consumer the type of amp that should be used.

P.S. Bombaywalla -- I think it's unfair to imply that the S8s are junk. I have no intention of starting a speaker war, but suffice to say, I think if properly tweaked and set up, they do a very credible job.

Bifwynne,
I have zero interest in any speaker war scenario, we all have our individual taste and there`s no point in taking that any further. I thought Bombaywalla`s opinion on speaker design-engineering choice/compromise was worthwhile and logical.
Regards,

I think that Bombaywalla may, somewhat understandably, have misconstrued Bruce's situation. AFAIK he hasn't had nearly as much interaction with Bruce and his speaker/amplifier concerns as I (and Ralph) have had. Bruce is certainly not in "speaker hell." He's just trying to develop as good an understanding as possible of the speaker/amplifier interface, which is certainly to his credit, and something that is likely to be helpful in the future.

Bombaywalla, I would add just one point to your IMO excellent list of reasons for the proliferation of speakers having problematical impedance curves. And that is that there seems to be a tendency among many audiophiles to equate the ability of a speaker or other component to resolve hardware differences with its ability to resolve musical information. Thus, if on the basis of reviews, user comments, etc., a speaker acquires the reputation of making amplifier selection particularly critical, it will in the minds of many audiophiles create an expectation that it will resolve musical information and detail better than a speaker for which amplifier selection is less critical. While of course, as this thread makes clear, that is by no means necessarily the case.

Best regards,
-- Al

P.S. Bombaywalla -- I think it's unfair to imply that the S8s are junk.

Bifwynne, sorry I never intended to call the Paradigm S8s to be junk. In my post I meant to say that the marketplace is littered with speakers with very mediocre/poor performance. The comment was not intended to single out any one speaker product. I have NO intention of starting a speaker war here; I would like to be very clear on this point.

OTOH, I think Bombaywalla's comment about me being in "sonic hell" may be a bit extreme.

LOL! :-D OK, it might have been.
But, I took my ques from the following statements Bifwynne wrote in his various posts:

I drive a pair of Paradigm S8s (v3) with an ARC VS-115 tube amp. I can't think of a worse match because the S8s have one of the most wacko impedance curve and phase angle plots....

I was feeling a bit down....

If I was to flip speakers, I probably would opt for the Revel Studio 2s, but would need to also flip for a high quality tube amp, maybe the new Ayre VX-5. Dunno???

- there's confusion! He's thinking of flipping equipment. I inferred (now I know incorrectly) that he was hitting rock-bottom w/ his present components.

Bombaywalla, I would add just one point to your IMO excellent list of reasons for the proliferation of speakers having problematical impedance curves. And that is that there seems to be a tendency among many audiophiles to equate the ability of a speaker or other component to resolve hardware differences with its ability to resolve musical information. Thus, if on the basis of reviews, user comments, etc., a speaker acquires the reputation of making amplifier selection particularly critical, it will in the minds of many audiophiles create an expectation that it will resolve musical information and detail better than a speaker for which amplifier selection is less critical. While of course, as this thread makes clear, that is by no means necessarily the case.

well-said Al!
best regards.