🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec30.183914.24983@midway.uchicago.edu>, cal@gsbux1.uchicago.edu (Cal Lott) writes:
> >
> >If the Adcom amp didn't cause any clipping, but the Fisher amp did, with
> >the SAME speakers, wouldn't you say it is pretty obvious the Fisher is
> >causing the problem?
> 
> 	Yes, except those Fisher speakers, as awful as they were,
> provided deeper bass at more volume without clipping. They did use
> bigger woofers.
> 
> 	I had thought that the Polks would be easier to drive, but
> perhaps they are just a lot more revealing of the amplifier's many
> flaws than I had thought. It just seems strange that the amp would
> clip on the smaller Polks and not on the big Fishers.
> 
> 	There is no doubt in my mind that the Fisher is a piece of
> excrement and that it needs to be replaced. I was simply curious as
> to why the amp was clipping now, and not before.
> 
> 	Thanks for the reply.
> 
> 						-Cal
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Cal Lott          "Oh, I see-- I thought 'no' meant 'spoon'!" --Dan
> Email me, baby!   cal@gsbux1.uchicago.edu   cjl1@midway.uchicago.edu
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cal, et al.

All engineering is the art of trading off compromises.  In box speaker
design the three basic tradeoffs are: 1) efficiency vs. 2) bandwidth (how
low does it go) vs. 3) distortion.

Thus the Fisher speakers have as design goals lots of numbers 1 & 2 and
let 3 be damned.

The Polks, being real hi-fi speakers, have been designed to tradeoff 1 to
gain 2 and esp. 3.  Thats why they sounded so good at the dealers with
the Adcom amps, with enough power you overcome the efficiency loss and
reap the benefits of 2 & 3.  The Fisher amp can not overcome the lack of
efficiency so you fail to get the benefits of the design.

The speakers impedance and power ratings are only a very indirect
indicator of how the designer picked these tradeoffs.  Without Dick Pierce's
experience and test equipment the best most of us can do is listen to the
EXACT combination of source/amp/speakers before plucking down the long green.

Norman Tracy
znpt01@trc.amoco.com