Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

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Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

Postby jukingeo » Sat Mar 13, 2021 2:43 pm

Hello All,

I am curious is anyone here has used either speaker model on a typical 4 to 10 watt Single Ended amplifier and what the results were in terms of performance and sound quality.

Looking at the 1w/1m sensitivities, the RP-600m delivers 96db and the R-51m gets about 93db.

I am looking for a moderate music level, not too loud. I would figure at about 4 - 6 ft way from the speakers, that power range of 4 - 10 watts SHOULD be enough? However, I don't know for sure. Perhaps if someone has these speakers on a low powered SE tube amp can chime in with their experience, I would appreciate it.

Thank You,
Geo
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Re: Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

Postby WA4SWJ » Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:39 am

Hi,

I have a Get*Set*Go amplifier and it drives some lower efficiency speakers just fine so I would think you would be OK with what you're proposing to do. Enjoy!

Ed
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Re: Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

Postby jukingeo » Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:13 pm

WA4SWJ wrote:Hi,

I have a Get*Set*Go amplifier and it drives some lower efficiency speakers just fine so I would think you would be OK with what you're proposing to do. Enjoy!

Ed


I do have a few projects sitting in boxes which I put on hiatus to raise a family and I didn't want to expose my then young boys to the potentially dangerous voltages (and hot bottles) associated with tube amplifiers. So what I had cooking was as follows:

A Clementine Darling
A Clementine 6L6 5W (however, I only have one Clementine board since Mr. Parks discontinued them....I am a bit shocked by that as I wanted to get another board).
A JE Labs EL34 SE

My concern was with the smaller speakers if the lower powered amplifiers could move them. Well, the EL34 should be fine, but I have been hearing so much about the Darling and I want to set that one up first.

I know with the small speakers that I probably have to so some close up listening (between 2 and 6 feet (max)). Some of the bigger Klipsch speakers, such as the Forte's, can hit 98db, but they are VERY expensive and also pretty large. As of now I just want to set up the speakers near my computer so I can listen and work on my computer at the same time, so another reason why I don't want large enclosures.

I do tend to listen to music with a heavy beat regularly, so I am not sure if that might affect things with a lower powered amplifier. I will say that I am not into loud music any more, but I do like to turn it up a bit every now and then. I do want to try some other music out too to experience this 'sound stage' everyone talks about with SE amplifiers.

Thanks!
Geo
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Re: Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

Postby WA4SWJ » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:48 am

Well good luck and have fun! You may be surprised at what low power amplifiers can do. They are not going to rock the house so to speak but they are better than a lot of people believe. I like mine a lot. I also have some higher powered amplifiers and love them too.

Ed
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Re: Klipsch R-51m or RP-600m on 10watt or less SE amplifier

Postby jukingeo » Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:37 am

WA4SWJ wrote:Well good luck and have fun! You may be surprised at what low power amplifiers can do. They are not going to rock the house so to speak but they are better than a lot of people believe. I like mine a lot. I also have some higher powered amplifiers and love them too.

Ed


Hello Ed,

Thank you. I have recently looked into some small-ish speakers that were under an 8" woofer to see what I could find that was popular in a high efficiency design. As it came to no surprise, Klipsch was at the top. I looked at speakers by Triangle an Elac as well. Elac I ruled out because of their efficiencies hovered around 84 db for a 6.5" woofer model. That is a pretty poor efficiency. Triangle was better, but marginally. I was also told that was more of an 'acoustic' speaker for those that like Jazz and chamber music. Given that my tastes lean more towards electronic music...almost everyone suggested Klipsch. Further, it is a brand I am already familiar with, so I am probably going to stick with them. I am hovering with their Reference Premier line, and the RP-400m - RP-600m models specifically. These models have a specially designed rear port and depending on how close you put them to the wall will change the bass output and you can add or take away the low end coloration to your liking. So I am going to buy one from this series. While I wanted the biggest one first, the RP-600m, I have found this speaker to be pretty large for a bookshelf speaker as it compares in size to enclosures that house an 8" woofer. I already have something this size. It is an older speaker my by Infinity and it is the SM82. It features an 8" woofer with a 1" dome tweeter and it is rated at an astounding 98db 1w/1m SPL, however, for such a large cabinet, it only goes down to 70hz on the low end. Believe it or not, the Klipsch RP-400m, reaches 90db but goes down to 52hz. Of course the cabinet is much smaller than the Infinity cabinets. Naturally, since I have them already, I will be using the Infinity's first. It is just they are very old and I don't know how well they will perform. I purposely didn't use them regularly as I was saving them for a tube amplifier. I do know that when I bought these speakers. The fellow that auditioned them for me, had them on an amplifier with a digital power meter, and being just 4 feet from the speakers, at 10 watts (peaking), I had already felt they were getting incomfortably loud. Astounded by this, I bought the speakers on the spot. Later, I had realized that these are probably not the most accurate speakers and I am sure the newer designed speakers from Klipsch are probably far better than the Infinity's, but I DO have something to work with that is high efficiency. I just hope that the foam surrounds on the woofers have held up over time as I believe these speakers came out in the mid 90's. So they are about 30 years old!

Thanks,
Geo
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