question about le amp II for mbarnes

vpolineni · « **on:** 6 May 2003, 04:03 pm »

mbarnes,
will the le amp II run consistently at 4 ohms or was it designed to dip down to 4 ohms at times? I ask because my speakers (thiel cs3.6) are nominal at 4 ohms. Also, if they run at 4 ohms, all the time, is the output 360 watts? finally, is the le amp II able to dip down to 2 ohms, for the thiels will do that. thanks.

mbarnes · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 May 2003, 08:02 am »

Le Amp II can handle down to 2 ohms without a problem.

MaxCast · « **Reply #2 on:** 7 May 2003, 11:47 am »

Quote from: mbarnes

Le Amp II can handle down to 2 ohms without a problem.

So does that mean they can run at 4 ohms all day? And what is the wattage at 4ohms, all day?

vpolineni · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 May 2003, 01:57 pm »

that's an excellent question maxcast-What would the wattage be at the amp running at 4 ohms all day? That was the other piece of information I'm really looking for. If it does run at 4 ohms all day, I'm buying a pair of these.

Marbles · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 May 2003, 02:11 pm »

The stress test that stereophile uses to test amps is 1/3 rated power into an 8ohm simulated load.

I would bet that the LA II's would run at 4 ohm all day if you didn't push the volume too loud.

Your question to MB should be: at X percent of power of the amps into a 4 ohm load, how long will they play? or something like that.

So for example, the amps are rated at 180 into an 8 Ohm load. The stress test (stereophile runs them for 1 hour, then tests distortion and square waves etc..) would have them run at 60 watts into 8 Ohms.

So if your speakers are 88 db @ 1 watt, 1 meter effecient..

1 watt = 88 db
2 = 91
4 = 93
8 = 96
16 = 99
32 = 102
64 = 105
128 = 108

I really doubt you would want to listen at 88 db all day much less anything above 100 db.

If you do, then it is highly likely you already have hearing damage.

I would think it would be no problem for them to run at 1 watt into 4 Ohm all day.

Also if you will have them in an enclosed equipment case, they would get very hot running all day I would think. In an open rack with breathing room, I would think they would be OK. So there are many factors here for the questions you tried to raise.

ABEX · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 May 2003, 03:20 pm »

From what I have gatherd they would be able to drive difficult loads due to the PS,Transistors and design.If not then it should not be sold.The only thing that would hinder this would be heat dissipation provided by the heatsinks in which case the transistirs would burn up if no protective circuitry is employed.

I do wonder what the actual stress testing involved as Marbles pointed out.

mbarnes · « **Reply #6 on:** 8 May 2003, 05:24 pm »

Le Amp II has very large external heatsinks. The power supply is sufficient to run 400 watts into 4 ohms. Because of the CLASS A gain stage, the power output isn't really a big factor.

Le Amp II is very robust.

Xi-Trum · « **Reply #7 on:** 15 May 2003, 01:49 pm »

I've asked this question a few times. Got no answer. So, I'll ask again.

What's the gain of the LA II? Is it 26 like the original LA?

mbarnes · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 May 2003, 12:21 pm »

I will have the final Le Amps ready on Tuesday. We will do final testing. We wanted to have the gain at 28. We have to test to confirm this.