I can drive my 89dB (a bit over 4 ohm) Audio Physics to about 45dB at 1m with an LG Phone’s auxiliary output.
Pretty surprising. Or is it?
That’s a good one in the category of ‘life hacks’!
How did you come to think of it? I’m sure you needed to do some tinkering to hook things up.
And most importantly: does it sound any good?
I screwed the aux RCA end signal pin to the speaker’s + terminal. I screwed the RCA ground onto the negative one. It’s just a jack-to-RCA cable, albeit a good one.
Sounds pretty good actually, LG made great phone outputs back in the day… This model was quite known for its DAC and (headphone) driving capabilities.
(As a side note, this is a temporary solution as my amplifier just blew fuses… But hey, it doesn’t sound bad)
Sorry to hear about blown fuses… and congrats for finding such a temporary workaround!
Indeed LG was renowned for their efforts on SQ.
It’s not quite clear to me yet, but I think you have only one speaker connected.
How did it come about your fuses blew - and were they stock?
At the moment. I guess I could do stereo as well but too lazy to configure so much cable.
I guess I had set the poor Japanese unit’s biasing current too high for too long a time.
I’ll resort to using stock quality fuses until I can afford the better ones…
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Thanks and I hope you’ll be up to speed again with your amp shortly!
LG always use quite high end DACs don’t they, it’s a shame more manufacturers don’t bother, I think there’s unquestionably a good market for it.
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I tried to drive the speaker with my friend’s Chinese phone and the LG had like double the current capability apparently.
I guess the auxiliary cable’s own resistance is negligible enough to not make a “bad speaker cable” at the length used.
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On my back porch, my audio system consists of a $25-30 Logitech speaker system driven by my phone or my Fiio digital player which holds a terabyte of songs. It’s not hi end, but I have music when I’m tired of hearing the crickets.
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My I suggest a quick listen to the lead in track, Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation, from Santana’s Caravanserai, 
Nice crickets. There were some on Dire Straits Brothers in Arms, but I can’t remember which track.
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Go buy an old pair of Klipsch Klipschorn’s (104dB @ 1 watt) and hook them up to your phone. Might be all you need. 
Years ago when I had my father’s Klipsch Cornwall II’s, I connected a little homemade single ended EL84 tube amp up to them, utilizing a Hammond power transformer and output autoformers. It was rated for 1.4 watts @ 4, 8 & 16 ohms, and had no issues getting those Cornwall’s to room filling levels. They sounded best on the 4 ohm output taps.
Back then, I was running a Parasound C/DP-1000 CD player and D/AC 1100 HD, and usually, a mint McIntosh MC250.
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It is amazing the difference in “power” between tubes and solid state. Not discounting the Klipsch insane efficiency at all, those things are just a miracle of engineering.
But I’ve got a fairly entry level 40wpc tube amp pushing some 89db bookshelves, and I’ve never turned the volume past about 11o’clock, any more than that I’m afraid would damage the fabric of time.
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Very true about tube vs SS.
However, in the end, watts are watts. 10 watts from a SS amp is the exact same as 10 watts out of a tube amp.
It’s just that when SS amps clip, they produce nasty harmonics and signals that can quickly destroy loudspeakers, whereas when tube amps clip, it’s very soft, easy and almost unnoticeable until you start hearing compression and “fuzz” coming from the loudspeakers.
Even though the tube amp is probably producing more distortion much sooner, the very nasty, harsh distortion produced from the SS amp is a LOT more drastic and seems to happen a lot quicker.
With a SS amp, one click on the volume and everything is still fine. One click more on the volume and all of a sudden you’re greeted with nasty clipping/distortion.
Tube amps, one click on the volume and everything is still fine. One click more and the onset of distortion and clipping is so soft and faint, you hardly or don’t notice it at all, allowing it to play a little louder.
Tube amps… Kind of like old engines vs new computer controlled engines. Old engines, once you past a certain rpm, you get valve float and produce no more power. In most cases, it can be a somewhat smooth transition. Some people don’t even notice it happening, nor hear it if they don’t know what to listen for.
SS amps… With a computer controlled engine, the computer has a built-in rev-limiter at a given, safe rpm, either via ignition cut or fuel cut. Again, once the rev-limiter is hit, you stop making power, but it’s also quite abrupt and very noticeable, and can easily be heard.
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Or until you add so much gain in advance, plug your guitar in, and drive it so hard the output valves (and transformer) make you the sweetest fuzz box ever 
50s valve hifi amps do this rather well, and saved me ever having to buy an actual guitar amp
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Good for you! Enjoy!
It does remind us that speakers are the most important bit - though I appreciate the phones decent output amp helps a lot - get the right speakers and you’re half way there