My new SET 2A3 amp

Congratulations on your purchase Rajiv!

Would love to hear your setup at my next Channai visit.:)

happy listening.
 
AFAIK the 2A3 is some 3WRMS right? Is that enough to drive your altecs to listenable limits? I am a noooob in this arena so forgive if its a silly question, but how loud can 3wrms get?
 
Hi Ruenigma,

To answer your question,the Altecs are very efficient (99Db@1 watt).The SET2A3 has more than enough power to drive them.

You are more than welcome to vist and listen to my system ,when you visit Madras.

Regards
Rajiv
 
Hi,

I thought Rajiv would explain it completely ! but no problems !

The Power of an amp is always dependent on the speakers partnered ,Meaning if you a speaker with relatively less sensitivity say 86dB then you require more power to drive them to the same decibel level as high sensitive speaker say the Altec which Rajiv owns ! its much more complex but without confusing you here's the simple answer.

for every 3dB increase in the speakers sensitivity the Amp power is reduced by almost half to give a desired output or decibel level ! so if the Amp is say the SET 2A3 with 3 watts then 99dB sensitive speakers as Altec at 3 meter listening position would reproduce 91 decibel (if you know how loud is that) of peak sound with 3db Amp headroom !! the same SET Amp if connected to a speaker of 86dB sensitivity then you would only get 78 decibel of peak sound !

Hope you Understood Ruenigma :p !!

Here's the formula !
Equations used to calculate the data:

dBW = Lreq - Lsens + 20 * Log (D2/Dref) + HR

W = 10 to the power of (dBW / 10)

Where:
Lreq = required SPL at listener
Lsens = loudspeaker sensitivity (1W/1M)
D2 = loudspeaker-to-listener distance
Dref = reference distance
HR = desired amplifier headroom
dBW = ratio of power referenced to 1 watt
W = power required

This does not mean that a less sensitive speaker is inferior in quality of the sound reproduced

Regards.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I thought Rajiv would explain it completely ! but no problems !

The Power of an amp is always dependent on the speakers partnered ,Meaning if you a speaker with relatively less sensitivity say 86dB then you require more power to drive them to the same decibel level as high sensitive speaker say the Altec which Rajiv owns ! its much more complex but without confusing you here's the simple answer.

for every 3dB increase in the speakers sensitivity the Amp power is reduced by almost half to give a desired output or decibel level ! so if the Amp is say the SET 2A3 with 3 watts then 99dB sensitive speakers as Altec at 3 meter listening position would reproduce 91 decibel (if you know how loud is that) of peak sound with 3db Amp headroom !! the same SET Amp if connected to a speaker of 86dB sensitivity then you would only get 78 decibel of peak sound !

Hope you Understood Ruenigma :p !!

Here's the formula !
Equations used to calculate the data:

dBW = Lreq - Lsens + 20 * Log (D2/Dref) + HR

W = 10 to the power of (dBW / 10)

Where:
Lreq = required SPL at listener
Lsens = loudspeaker sensitivity (1W/1M)
D2 = loudspeaker-to-listener distance
Dref = reference distance
HR = desired amplifier headroom
dBW = ratio of power referenced to 1 watt
W = power required

This does not mean that a less sensitive speaker is inferior in quality of the sound reproduced

Regards.

Thanks a tonne guys! I did read alot about this, however soundsgreat's explaination and a friend's email quote "One watt at one meter could be dangerous" today itself, summed it up for me.

On the positive note I had a call with the Guru (read Viren Bakshi of lyrita) and i am looking forward to own one of the SETs myself.

Will keep you guys updated!!

@Rajiv: I sure would let you know when i am visiting Madras.
 
Hi,

Glad to know that it helped ! anymore info you need ? any time :)

As by now you already know the basics, so before you jump to the conclusion of owning a SET amp,please bear in mind the costs of the matching speakers and be very careful in matching it a proper speaker or else the whole point is lost !!

Hope you own it very soon ;)

Keep us hooked !

Regards.
 
I hope you told Viren which make/model of speakers you own/intend pairing the SET with;
he would be able to guide/advise you properly then.
 
@Soundsgreat

Yup i understood the cost part of it and have started to accumulate funds for the same. May be around 2-3 months from now i'll be able to get myself the SET. I hope i'd be able to fly to delhi so that i can have a rendevouz with Viren and hopefully Kamalji and other audiophiles too.

@Soundsgreat and Kamalji

I am also saving for the fostex studded beauties from Virenji. :) so the sensitivity and matching etc shouldn't be a trouble.
 
Ruenigma wrote-
" I hope i'd be able to fly to delhi so that i can have a rendevouz with Viren and hopefully Kamalji and other audiophiles too "
It would be a pleasure !
 
Hi,

Good to hear that you've started the process ! As said earlier hope you buy it soon and enjoy them !!

I am also saving for the fostex studded beauties from Virenji. so the sensitivity and matching etc shouldn't be a trouble.

Nothing better then that !! a match made in heaven (or by Viren rather);) !!

Keep us posted buddy ! now don't forget Us once buy em :p !

Regards.
 
On a serious note, would you explain how good would a PC with a 24bit/96KHz (current Audigy2 ZS) or a 192KHz/24Bit (Planned Asus Xonar), would sound with these?

i have never heard an LP/EP so dunno bout analogue, mentioning so that comments could be limited to digital stuff alone.
 
On a serious note, would you explain how good would a PC with a 24bit/96KHz (current Audigy2 ZS) or a 192KHz/24Bit (Planned Asus Xonar), would sound with these?

i have never heard an LP/EP so dunno bout analogue, mentioning so that comments could be limited to digital stuff alone.

Neither of those would sound great. However if you move to the professional sound cards like the EMUs or the ESIs or the RMEs, they'd probably be better than most entry level CD players. However neither come close to a good quality external DAC.
 
Hey! Rajiv congrats on the new purchase & double congrats on owning two great speakers.

I'm recent tannoy convert & would've loved a chance to hear the monitor gold's.
But alas you're in madras, may be sometime??

How long have had these speakers?? If you can pl post some pics.
Cheers
Happy listening.
 
Hi,
Hmm ! Am no guru boss ! Am just a student ! trying to learn a thing or two :D !

Coronas/Bud lites with lime wedges included

I've already mentioned in some other thread,Am not much of a drinker ;)! So I wouldn't know what that means !! but will be more then happy to drop in and checkout the set-up !! by the way you've not mentioned where you are from !! please do let Us know !!

You cannot compare the sound quality of a DAC in PC's soundcard as opposed to a dedicated DAC,either a standalone or inbuilt (inside the CDP) for countless reasons,there's 1000 things involved and if I start to explain everything then you'll end up even more confused !


For starters ,Even though the soundcard is fully loaded it always depends on the motherboard's IRQ, Resources etc in addition to the OS to function ! So its not always free from clock jitters and other artifacts ! so you cannot compare ! at the best as said by Reign it can be as good or equal to the entry level CDP !

Hope you got the point ! if not ask me.

Regards.
 
My name is sarang and i am from Pune.

Yes I am starting to get it now, however if the card does have a decent amount (64MB) memory onboard as well as decent processing capabilities of its own, housed on a high bandwidth PCI-E sot would that make matters any easier?
 
Hi,

Sarang to be honest,even with that it will never be close to the standalone stuff ! Reason is same again,Agreed that the PCI Express with 16X will be much faster then the regular PCI (4-8X) but still it depends on port Interrupts and Physical addressing etc. with the Ram as you suggest things may get even worse (not necessarily) as the buffer starts to kick-in when ever it feels the shortage of ram there by altering the signals processing (when the buffer takes over from the mother board) and as I mentioned earlier the clock Jitters are bound happen ! so what you said can the best possible sound for PC but not for continues listening and certainly not for Audio purists !!

Regards.
 
@Soundsgreat

Had a chance to listen to a friend's asus xonar (the features i was trying to sell across belong to this beast of a card),

Had a extensive listening this evening and just when i thought i am gonna prove you wrong the supposedly almighty xonar gave a slight jerky bit of a noise while copying some large files in the background.

Now I am trying to get things right with ASIO4All with Foobar if it fails i'll also try Kernel streaming.
Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to make a point here, its just that i spend most of time in front of my pc and don't want to lose out on the comfort of hitting on any FLAC of my choice rather than moving from the chair finding the required CD and popping it in.

I nkow it sounds lazy but hell yeah i am lazy!
 
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