Would these speakers be a good match for the Stereomour?

[wilberforce]

I think I know the answer, but I'd like the opinions of you guys. They are in a rear loading Jensen designed cabinet. The woofers are 15" JBL 2220s, the HF is Selenium D2500 with a QSC waveguide. The crossovers are modified Zilchlab Econowaves. They currently get driven by a Sherwood S-1000II, which has 36 watts a side. I'm sure these are more than efficient enough for the Stereomour, but my question is will it be dramatically different than the Sherwood? I've heard so many raves about SE 2A3 amps that my curiosity is piqued. What do you think?

 

[Paul Joppa]

Sweet!

The 2220's (I have a pair in my own system) are rated 101dB , so "to satisfy most audiophiles most of the time", you would need a minimum of 1.25 watts per channel. Stereomour is rated 3.5 watts per channel.

The above is what I derived from the recommendations for minimum power in a large number of Stereophile speaker reviews, some 10-20 years ago when I was a regular reader. It is approximately enough to meet THX movie standards.

There are a wide variety of other considerations that put a large range around this number - your own preferences, the specific music, room size and acoustic treatment, the actual speaker response and beamwidth, the overload behavior of different amp technologies, etc. That's why I have interpreted Stereophile's practice as being able to "satisfy most audiophiles most of the time."

 

[wilberforce]

Hi, thanks for the response! I'm sure these speakers are more than efficient enough, and they're in a fairly small room. What I'm really wondering about is what differences I'll hear using a Stereomour from my current Sherwood S-5000II?

 

[Doc B]

In general a single ended amp will have greater low level resolution and that will give a better sense of subtle cues that make it seem more like you are in the original recording venue. One of my favorite descriptions is that single ended "lets you hear the flesh in the singer's throat".

 

[howardnair]

wilbur-concerning a stereomour-i have some cayin 6550 tubed monoblocks, several scott amps a mac-mc250 solid state- a dynaco and a pair of dared vp-20 monoblocks--i switched these around a great deal until i built the stereomour-i have not felt as if i needed to switch the stereomour from my main system -go for  the stereomour--you will be pleasantly suprised

 

[wilberforce]

I'm definitely intrigued. One advantage would be having a completely new amp, as opposed to the vintage stuff. I had to take the Sherwood to the doctor again when it developed a nasty hum. Vintage stuff is great, but I'm not at the level where I can fix them myself yet. And that brings up the other advantage: hopefully, I'd be learning a good deal while building it.

 

[howardnair]

well wilbur you are sitting on the fence-- allow me to  give you a push-think about this -the signal from your cd/phono or tuner-how and why does it go in here and come out there bigger and sounding sooo nice!!! its really amazing --a bottlehead kit and some literature and you have a good start--
this is a good read    http://boozhoundlabs.com/howto/

and this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160328229222&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
volumes 1 and 2 apply --very simple and easily read --this is from the 1950's- a primer for electronics

 

[wilberforce]

well wilbur you are sitting on the fence-- allow me to  give you a push-think about this -the signal from your cd/phono or tuner-how and why does it go in here and come out there bigger and sounding sooo nice!!! its really amazing --a bottlehead kit and some literature and you have a good start--
this is a good read     http://boozhoundlabs.com/howto/

and this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160328229222&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
volumes 1 and 2 apply --very simple and easily read --this is from the 1950's- a primer for electronics

Thanks, interesting read. At this point, I'm sitting on the fence only because I'm waiting for some stuff I have listed to be sold. I can only justify the expense if I clear out some stuff I'm not using that much. I think I'm sold--I want one, it's just a matter of time.