Driving Paradigm Studio Speakers

It will be a while before I can start building my new HT/music system but I think I've decided on the speakers I'll be getting. I've owned Paradigm Studio 60's as well as the Servo 15 sub but for my new system I'm leaning towards the v4 Studio 100's for the fronts, the new CC-690 center, ADP-590 surrounds and a Servo 15 sub.

Now the $64 question is -- how well matched is the 2200 for use with the Studio 100's and CC-690? That is, I plan to use the receiver to drive the rears and mono-blocks for the fronts and center but before I go with the 2200 it would be nice to know if anyone with the Studio 100's has driven them with the 2200's.

I ask this because it looks as though the Studio 100's tend toward very low Z (maybe as low as 2 ohms) in parts of the bass region and most amps seem to be spec'd for operation in the 4-8 ohm range. Of course the Z for all speakers varies with frequency so the Studio 100's shouldn't be completely unusual in this reguard.

Brian

I've driven Studio 60v2's with M200's and had very positive results. The 100's would be a little heavier load, but I think the M2200 would be quite comfortable handling that.

I'd actually like a bit more power than the 2200's offer, say 300WPC (8ohm) / 450WPC (4ohm), but 200 WPC should do the trick.

I'd like to see Outlaw offer a multi-channel amp that's asemetrical with more power for the fronts and center and less for the surrounds and rears. Short of that a 3-channel amp of 300 WPC (8ohm) with a 2-channel amp of 200 WPC (8ohm).

But, getting back to the real world I do have a question about the cooling airflow through the 2200. When viewed from the front with the power LED on the left, where does the unit want to bring air in and where does it exit?

Thanks,

Brian

I don't have a picture of the underside and don't recall what it looks like - will have to lift one up this evening and feel around under it. The entire top panel is ventilated (you can get some idea of it both here and in my review .

Cooling should not be an issue.
I have three stacks of three and one stack of four 200/ 2200's and have not had them overheat. If I listen to them for extended times, at very high volumes, they do get quite warm but I have not had any of them shut down. I have a fan on top of each stack and will usually run them if I know that the amps will be driven hard but occasionally I forget and the amps still have never overheated on me (BTW my amps are in a cabinet where only the front is open).

As far as cooling goes you can draw air up through the amp since it has cooling holes on the top and bottom, but convection will probably be sufficient.

To answer your impedance question in your first post, eight of my amps run in a four ohm load driving woofers (which would be the hardest drivers on an amp) and I have not had any problems. But in all reality, most any good quality seperate amp will be able to handle excursions into the 2 ohm region. The only time I have really seen people give amps a problem is when they play test tones at ridiculous volumes, and for extended times, where they find certain frequencies where the drivers do dip into very low impedances.

Thanks for the info, it does sound like heat won't be as big of an issue as I first thought.

OTOH, I'm thinking about building a wall unit to house the components and TV and provide storage for my CD's and DVD's and I've been thinking about designing a forced air cooling system to feed clean cool air to each of the components. So if the 2200's are botton in top out I can just feed the cool air to the bottom and let the heat rise out the top.

I should mention that I have modified previous wall units with cooling fans because the DirecTiVo unit (first gen) would run VERY warm.

Brian

Sure, you can put cool air in the bottom and let the stack effect carry the heat away. I'd actually recommend that arrangement for all of your equipment - that way, you won't be fighting nature.

I'd be curious to hear more about your plans for this cooling system. It's rarely done in entertainment centers and the principles used in data centers and large TV/radio studios (such as hot aisle/cold aisle) don't carry over well to our scale, so I'm always interested to hear about the approaches different folks use.

I'm thinking about building a plenum in the lower section of the component rack with a largish fan pulling air through a filter (think forced air systems). Then, ducting the output to the bottom of each of the components. I'm working on an idea on how best to do the ducting but can't say just yet.

Using a large fan and running it a low speed should give adequate flow rate while keeping the sound down. I think the sound will be further reduced by placement inside the plenum that's inside the cabinet. I think it should be inaudible unless you put your ear against the cabinet door.

It will also be necessary to provide a path for the heated air to rise and escape the cabinet.

Brian

The plenum and the ducting will both help attenuate the fan sound, and running at low speed will be very helpful as well. Gentle radiuses in your supply ducts will keep down turbulence, and if you can put some straight duct right off of the fan that'd be helpful as well. The intake to the plenum will probably be your main path for fan noise back into the space. You might consider an intake duct to help with that, if it works out with your plenum placement and the rest of the cabinet design.

I just registered when I saw this thread

I currently have the v.4 studio 100s powered by these mono amps, I dont see why you'd want more power than this, high volume gets pretty intense. Much more and you'd probably start to see distortion unless you just want the extra 100wpc for dynmaic range. meh

Well the v4 100's have a max power rating of 210WPC (8 ohm) and the amp should be able to deliver at least that amount of power without clipping. I'd idealy love to have about 300WPC (8 ohm) to drive the fronts and center even though I'd never drive them that far.

Part of the advantage of the more powerful amps is that they tend to have larger power supplies and the end result is better performance even when your not pushing out max power.

In fact, I'd have no problem driving my 100's with as much as 500WPC (8 ohm).

Brian

yeah i see what you are getting at, perhaps ill eventually move the 2200s to the side channels and get some bigger amps upfront, dunno

Well I've been all over the map trying to figure out what amps to use for the fronts and center. The 2200's on paper seem a pretty close match for the needs of the 100's and CC-690 but I do think more power would be better. In fact, if I can afford them I'd be inclined to go with an amp of about 500WPC (8 ohms) or at least 300WPC (8 ohm).

I am very interested in the new D class amps from Bel Canto and Halcro to name just two, but the price for them is beyond my bank account. The idea of an amp that's as much as 94% effecient is very appealling on two counts: reduced electric bill, and fewer cooling issues. The designs from Halcro, for example, appear to offer pretty much class A fidelity at about one third the power requirements!


Brian