Opinion
MiNE 109 said:
Vandersteen recommends 40-160 watts for the 2Ce. Jolida makes integrated
amps with 40, 50, 60, 70 and 100 watts. You might not want to use the 25
watt integrated or the 8 watt SET integrated, but it looks like Jolida
has five models that should work.
Please don't forget that a simple notation of "100 watts" in 8 ohms
isn't enough to ensure that this amp can drive any load.
The current capability is important as well.
If that 100 watt amp hasn't got the capability to double the power in
half the load, it sure won't be able to drive a real world
loudspeaker, which isn't a constant "8 or 4 ohms" over the frequency
range..
Therefor, it's better to look at the voltage an amp can put out in
various loads.
If that voltage is relatively constant, and this means a power supply
that is well-regulated and capable of delivering enough current, then
at least one requirement is met.
My 25 W/8 ohms hybrid MOSFET amp plays louder than most 100 watt
commercial designs, due to an enormous supply reserve of 500 VA.
It doubles up power in 4 and 2 ohms, and to a lesser degree in 1 ohm.
My 20 W/8 ohms triode amp plays only slightly less loud than the
MOSFET model under normal listening conditions, despite the fact that
it is a tube amp. It will however lose the competition with the MOSFET
amp when playing (too) loud.
Again, a very good supply design and output transformer make this
possible. See the figures in a previous post by me.
IMHO, it's possible for a good tube amp to have sufficient current
reserve to drive most speaker loads.
A well-designed solid state amp will always be better in this regard,
though.
Of course, this is just only one (but important) requirement for an
amplifier to sound good on a given speaker.
--
Sander deWaal
Vacuum Audio Consultancy
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