Oldschool68
New Member
Are Frazier concerto speakers a good match for a Mcintosh 1700?
Speaker pairing.
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CJ Payne
Well-Known Member
You need to compare the numbers...most any speakers are perfectly fine with most any amplifiers, the question is how loud do you want to push them each. You are more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that is too weak, and you can run an amp that is much more powerful than the speakers listed "Max" power handling.
Basically, if you want LOUD you need POWER. At low listening levels you can power pretty much anything with pretty much anything. But when you go loud, that's when things change, and only if you're pushing one of the two components to their limits.
So in the case of pushing the amp and/or speaker to their limits you have one of two scenarios:
1: you push the amp past its electrical capabilities. This is where the speaker can keep going louder but the amp doesn't have the juice to push that speaker any louder, we call this "Clipping" and the amp makes what we call "Square Waves". If you think of an audio signal like a wave on the ocean, with a smooth rounded top and bottom, or a sine wave in a mathematical x/y chart, clipping is where you reach the top of the amps abilities and you essentially cut off the top and bottom of that smooth curve with a straight line. That straight line at the top and bottom of the wave is the amp saying "NO MORE", and that curve is how it's pushing the speaker cone forward and backward. If the amp hits that flat spot at the top of the wave, it's making the speaker cone push out, and then hold there for a fraction of a second, over and over and over. When the speaker is pushed out and holding there for those fractions of seconds, you're pushing electricity through the copper voice coil in the speaker without it moving and creating air flow that keeps it cool. So what happens with thin copper wire when you just keep running electricity through it? It gets hot! And that's what happens in the speaker. You can also hear this in the music in the form of distortion. Like in a cheap car stereo you turn it up and it starts to sound crappy, that's the amp clipping. This can also happen when you turn up the bass a lot at loud levels because bass requires more power because you have to move more air physically. As the copper wire in the speaker heats up like a toaster, you eventually reach the point where the copper melts, and the circuit is opened, a.k.a. the speaker is blown. THAT'S WHY you're more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that's too weak as opposed to much too powerful.
Scenario 2: Your amp IS too powerful, and you turn the volume up so loud you've reached the PHYSICAL limit of the speaker, this is far less common but it can happen. The speaker cone can only move in and out so far, physically. If you want more bass you have to move more air, this happens by either getting a bigger speaker (a 15" woofer moves more air than a 10" woofer pushing in and out the same distance) or by making the woofer move in and out a further distance (note how subwoofers usually have bigger foam surrounds and can extend further forward and back, the 10" woofer can move the same air as a 15" woofer, but it has to push much further out and back in to do it). So if your amp isn't clipping, but you're pushing the volume and especially bass to a point where the woofer on your speaker can't go out anymore, you hit the point where you risk so much electricity that the woofer simply blows up, like what Marty McFly does in the beginning of Back to the Future. It's more rare, but I have seen a woofer fly out of a speaker into an audience because the sound engineer was using a speaker that was too small for an outside concert and was trying to go too loud for that speaker. You will also hear this in the form of distortion but it's more like hearing the speaker being slapped against something rather than the music getting distorted.
I'm sorry this was probably WAY more information than you were looking for, and you probably just wanted a "Yes, that will pair well" or a "No don't do that" answer...but this is the Speaker Amp pairing 101 answer that I think a lot of people new to stereo equipment aught to know!
The short answer is Yes, it's a good match...unless you go too loud
If you want to know if that amp will "Sound Good" with that speaker...well the subject of sounding good is entirely objective, and any answer someone gives on this forum is moot. What sound's good to one sounds terrible to another, and so I avoid saying something sounds good here. You just have to bring your amp to the speaker seller and plug the two in and decide for yourself
Basically, if you want LOUD you need POWER. At low listening levels you can power pretty much anything with pretty much anything. But when you go loud, that's when things change, and only if you're pushing one of the two components to their limits.
So in the case of pushing the amp and/or speaker to their limits you have one of two scenarios:
1: you push the amp past its electrical capabilities. This is where the speaker can keep going louder but the amp doesn't have the juice to push that speaker any louder, we call this "Clipping" and the amp makes what we call "Square Waves". If you think of an audio signal like a wave on the ocean, with a smooth rounded top and bottom, or a sine wave in a mathematical x/y chart, clipping is where you reach the top of the amps abilities and you essentially cut off the top and bottom of that smooth curve with a straight line. That straight line at the top and bottom of the wave is the amp saying "NO MORE", and that curve is how it's pushing the speaker cone forward and backward. If the amp hits that flat spot at the top of the wave, it's making the speaker cone push out, and then hold there for a fraction of a second, over and over and over. When the speaker is pushed out and holding there for those fractions of seconds, you're pushing electricity through the copper voice coil in the speaker without it moving and creating air flow that keeps it cool. So what happens with thin copper wire when you just keep running electricity through it? It gets hot! And that's what happens in the speaker. You can also hear this in the music in the form of distortion. Like in a cheap car stereo you turn it up and it starts to sound crappy, that's the amp clipping. This can also happen when you turn up the bass a lot at loud levels because bass requires more power because you have to move more air physically. As the copper wire in the speaker heats up like a toaster, you eventually reach the point where the copper melts, and the circuit is opened, a.k.a. the speaker is blown. THAT'S WHY you're more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that's too weak as opposed to much too powerful.
Scenario 2: Your amp IS too powerful, and you turn the volume up so loud you've reached the PHYSICAL limit of the speaker, this is far less common but it can happen. The speaker cone can only move in and out so far, physically. If you want more bass you have to move more air, this happens by either getting a bigger speaker (a 15" woofer moves more air than a 10" woofer pushing in and out the same distance) or by making the woofer move in and out a further distance (note how subwoofers usually have bigger foam surrounds and can extend further forward and back, the 10" woofer can move the same air as a 15" woofer, but it has to push much further out and back in to do it). So if your amp isn't clipping, but you're pushing the volume and especially bass to a point where the woofer on your speaker can't go out anymore, you hit the point where you risk so much electricity that the woofer simply blows up, like what Marty McFly does in the beginning of Back to the Future. It's more rare, but I have seen a woofer fly out of a speaker into an audience because the sound engineer was using a speaker that was too small for an outside concert and was trying to go too loud for that speaker. You will also hear this in the form of distortion but it's more like hearing the speaker being slapped against something rather than the music getting distorted.
I'm sorry this was probably WAY more information than you were looking for, and you probably just wanted a "Yes, that will pair well" or a "No don't do that" answer...but this is the Speaker Amp pairing 101 answer that I think a lot of people new to stereo equipment aught to know!
The short answer is Yes, it's a good match...unless you go too loud
If you want to know if that amp will "Sound Good" with that speaker...well the subject of sounding good is entirely objective, and any answer someone gives on this forum is moot. What sound's good to one sounds terrible to another, and so I avoid saying something sounds good here. You just have to bring your amp to the speaker seller and plug the two in and decide for yourself
Last edited:
Oldschool68
New Member
You need to compare the numbers...most any speakers are perfectly fine with most any amplifiers, the question is how loud do you want to push them each. You are more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that is too weak, and you can run an amp that is much more powerful than the speakers listed "Max" power handling.
Basically, if you want LOUD you need POWER. At low listening levels you can power pretty much anything with pretty much anything. But when you go loud, that's when things change, and only if you're pushing one of the two components to their limits.
So in the case of pushing the amp and/or speaker to their limits you have one of two scenarios:
1: you push the amp past its electrical capabilities. This is where the speaker can keep going louder but the amp doesn't have the juice to push that speaker any louder, we call this "Clipping" and the amp makes what we call "Square Waves". If you think of an audio signal like a wave on the ocean, with a smooth rounded top and bottom, or a sine wave in a mathematical x/y chart, clipping is where you reach the top of the amps abilities and you essentially cut off the top and bottom of that smooth curve with a straight line. That straight line at the top and bottom of the wave is the amp saying "NO MORE", and that curve is how it's pushing the speaker cone forward and backward. If the amp hits that flat spot at the top of the wave, it's making the speaker cone push out, and then hold there for a fraction of a second, over and over and over. When the speaker is pushed out and holding there for those fractions of seconds, you're pushing electricity through the copper voice coil in the speaker without it moving and creating air flow that keeps it cool. So what happens with thin copper wire when you just keep running electricity through it? It gets hot! And that's what happens in the speaker. You can also hear this in the music in the form of distortion. Like in a cheap car stereo you turn it up and it starts to sound crappy, that's the amp clipping. This can also happen when you turn up the bass a lot at loud levels because bass requires more power because you have to move more air physically. As the copper wire in the speaker heats up like a toaster, you eventually reach the point where the copper melts, and the circuit is opened, a.k.a. the speaker is blown. THAT'S WHY you're more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that's too weak as opposed to much too powerful.
Scenario 2: Your amp IS too powerful, and you turn the volume up so loud you've reached the PHYSICAL limit of the speaker, this is far less common but it can happen. The speaker cone can only move in and out so far, physically. If you want more bass you have to move more air, this happens by either getting a bigger speaker (a 15" woofer moves more air than a 10" woofer pushing in and out the same distance) or by making the woofer move in and out a further distance (note how subwoofers usually have bigger foam surrounds and can extend further forward and back, the 10" woofer can move the same air as a 15" woofer, but it has to push much further out and back in to do it). So if your amp isn't clipping, but you're pushing the volume and especially bass to a point where the woofer on your speaker can't go out anymore, you hit the point where you risk so much electricity that the woofer simply blows up, like what Marty McFly does in the beginning of Back to the Future. It's more rare, but I have seen a woofer fly out of a speaker into an audience because the sound engineer was using a speaker that was too small for an outside concert and was trying to go too loud for that speaker. You will also hear this in the form of distortion but it's more like hearing the speaker being slapped against something rather than the music getting distorted.
I'm sorry this was probably WAY more information than you were looking for, and you probably just wanted a "Yes, that will pair well" or a "No don't do that" answer...but this is the Speaker Amp pairing 101 answer that I think a lot of people new to stereo equipment aught to know!
The short answer is Yes, it's a good match...unless you go too loud
If you want to know if that amp will "Sound Good" with that speaker...well the subject of sounding good is entirely objective, and any answer someone gives on this forum is moot. What sound's good to one sounds terrible to another, and so I avoid saying something sounds good here. You just have to bring your amp to the speaker seller and plug the two in and decide for yourself
You need to compare the numbers...most any speakers are perfectly fine with most any amplifiers, the question is how loud do you want to push them each. You are more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that is too weak, and you can run an amp that is much more powerful than the speakers listed "Max" power handling.
Basically, if you want LOUD you need POWER. At low listening levels you can power pretty much anything with pretty much anything. But when you go loud, that's when things change, and only if you're pushing one of the two components to their limits.
So in the case of pushing the amp and/or speaker to their limits you have one of two scenarios:
1: you push the amp past its electrical capabilities. This is where the speaker can keep going louder but the amp doesn't have the juice to push that speaker any louder, we call this "Clipping" and the amp makes what we call "Square Waves". If you think of an audio signal like a wave on the ocean, with a smooth rounded top and bottom, or a sine wave in a mathematical x/y chart, clipping is where you reach the top of the amps abilities and you essentially cut off the top and bottom of that smooth curve with a straight line. That straight line at the top and bottom of the wave is the amp saying "NO MORE", and that curve is how it's pushing the speaker cone forward and backward. If the amp hits that flat spot at the top of the wave, it's making the speaker cone push out, and then hold there for a fraction of a second, over and over and over. When the speaker is pushed out and holding there for those fractions of seconds, you're pushing electricity through the copper voice coil in the speaker without it moving and creating air flow that keeps it cool. So what happens with thin copper wire when you just keep running electricity through it? It gets hot! And that's what happens in the speaker. You can also hear this in the music in the form of distortion. Like in a cheap car stereo you turn it up and it starts to sound crappy, that's the amp clipping. This can also happen when you turn up the bass a lot at loud levels because bass requires more power because you have to move more air physically. As the copper wire in the speaker heats up like a toaster, you eventually reach the point where the copper melts, and the circuit is opened, a.k.a. the speaker is blown. THAT'S WHY you're more likely to blow a speaker with an amp that's too weak as opposed to much too powerful.
Scenario 2: Your amp IS too powerful, and you turn the volume up so loud you've reached the PHYSICAL limit of the speaker, this is far less common but it can happen. The speaker cone can only move in and out so far, physically. If you want more bass you have to move more air, this happens by either getting a bigger speaker (a 15" woofer moves more air than a 10" woofer pushing in and out the same distance) or by making the woofer move in and out a further distance (note how subwoofers usually have bigger foam surrounds and can extend further forward and back, the 10" woofer can move the same air as a 15" woofer, but it has to push much further out and back in to do it). So if your amp isn't clipping, but you're pushing the volume and especially bass to a point where the woofer on your speaker can't go out anymore, you hit the point where you risk so much electricity that the woofer simply blows up, like what Marty McFly does in the beginning of Back to the Future. It's more rare, but I have seen a woofer fly out of a speaker into an audience because the sound engineer was using a speaker that was too small for an outside concert and was trying to go too loud for that speaker. You will also hear this in the form of distortion but it's more like hearing the speaker being slapped against something rather than the music getting distorted.
I'm sorry this was probably WAY more information than you were looking for, and you probably just wanted a "Yes, that will pair well" or a "No don't do that" answer...but this is the Speaker Amp pairing 101 answer that I think a lot of people new to stereo equipment aught to know!
The short answer is Yes, it's a good match...unless you go too loud
If you want to know if that amp will "Sound Good" with that speaker...well the subject of sounding good is entirely objective, and any answer someone gives on this forum is moot. What sound's good to one sounds terrible to another, and so I avoid saying something sounds good here. You just have to bring your amp to the speaker seller and plug the two in and decide for yourself
The days of playing music loud enough to piss the neighbors down the block off are long gone. Lol
I was more concerned with how the low they would go in a small room. My musical tastes are all over so I was concerned about how they would perform with a variety of genres.
Thanks for your reply.
Oldschool68
New Member
The Mac is currently driving KLH 6's which I plan to pair with my Marantz 2270 in a larger room.
I thought my Concerto speakers blew my Heresy speakers away, especially paired with a Fisher tube amp. They do not need a lot of power, bass was surprisingly good.
CJ Payne
Well-Known Member
The smaller the room the less you need for bass output. Those seem to be bigger than KLH 6's, so wondering why you'd put the bigger speakers in the smaller room. FWIW bigger speakers tend to go lower, both because of what I said about woofer size, but also bigger cabinets tend to be more efficient at bass reproduction. That doesn't mean they will, the KLH 6 is an acoustic suspension speaker if I remember correctly, which tend to get better bass response out of a smaller footprint. But again, like I said, there are many different factors that play into the sound a driver can reproduce. I just tend to think a smaller footprint would be preferred in a smaller room for simple real estate.
I guess just buy them and if you don't like them you can probably sell them for what you paid for them...old speakers have generally passed their depreciation point, and what they sell for is what they sell for.
Oldschool68
New Member
On paper yes.
Will your ears like it?
Oldschool68
New Member
It looks like I'll be spending a bit of time moving speakers this weekend.
Thanks for all your replies.
