Matt,
Thanks for this honest answer.
It seems that my speakers need a lot of power.
I thought that 70 W of class A could be enough for moderate volumes.
For high volumes, my plan was to keep my MC2301's.
I did not expect your answer.

No worries, I was kidding actually !

Jérôme

Matt... Is there something you would recommend (SHINDO) with Jerome's PMC speakers?

I'm not going to say it won't work.. It may work fine and simply sound astonishing. But it may not. It's a tough call, as I think solid state or very high power tubes is probably a safer bet with your speakers. For your listening tastes and room size, you may find them suitable. I can't make a long distance judgement call, though, I'm sorry. Wish I was more local.. :D

The CCQ's are the highest powered amps shindo makes - it's very plausible they will be incredible on the speakers, but it's really tough to know without listening to that particular combo. I recently sold a pair of of CCQ's to a fellow who had Harbeth 40.1 (not my personal cup of tea, speaker wise, though) and it drove the hell out of them. He has since switched speakers to something different, but when driving the Harbeth - it was fine. :yes:

FWIW, I'm driving an 86 dB/W pair of Dynaudio speakers very effectively with a C-J tube amp putting out 70 Wpc.

Not the prettiest load into 4ohm, but like I said, it's entirely plausible it may be fine - :scratch2: - also depends on room size and listening tastes.

I tend to be a bit conservative when it comes to speaker matching - Huge dips and peaks in impedance are something to be wary of. A stable impedance is also key.

-M

Used to drive my 88dB Sonus Faber GM's with 75w of KT88's in a 14x17 room with no problem. Plenty of dynamic punch and no soundstage shrinking or congestion.

My Tannoy Kensigton are 93dB and 10w is plenty in my 14x21 room unless I really want to crank it which I usually never do. 96dB peaks are totally realistic though but at the cusp of where the Cortese starts to lose it's grip.

Jerome, besides efficiency, impedance swings are very important and if the load the tube amp down, it doesn't help if they are more efficient. Most tube friendly speakers are 8 ohm and more importantly, STABLE when it comes to impedance.

When I tried the MC2102 with 100w, there was absolutely nothing to gain in my system. Moreover, the 2102 sounded too warm and lacking luster with my Tannoy's. Blah.... too boring!
:no:


On the same note, the Ayon Crossfire of 30w SET power sounded absolutely sparkling and dynamically alive in my system. With the same efficiency Verity Audio Eleonore, it was a different story. It sounded like it was running out of juice and was congested and thick/muddy sounding. More drivers, more complex crossover, you see, results will vary.

Shindo owners all seem to have knowledge of few speakers out there that work well.

I dont blame Matt for not feeling comfortable with that recommendation. His honesty is most appreciated too! :thumbsup:

Jerome, the question is, are you prepared to change speakers if need be to get the Shindo amps to really sing?