2. speakers
  3. 187874-139155

Efficient speakers -- What was your journey from A to B to ?

This thread is for people who have tried a successive number of efficient speakers and are willing to relate what they learned on the way.

Here's where I am: Recent experiences with speakers and amps has lead me toward lower watt (not ultra low) amps and more sensitive speakers.

I currently am looking for a second pair of speakers to alternate with my Ascends which would play more nicely with my Quicksilver Mono 60s and my Pass XA 25. (If I found the right speakers, I could be willing to look into SET amps, etc. but that is not my quest, now.)

I am open to design -- horns, open baffle, single driver, etc. My budget is flexible but I won't spend tens of thousands. So, some options are likely not possible.

Here are the speakers I am keeping an eye out for, used, but please add to my list! 

Audio Note
Coherent Audio 
Coincident — planar magnetic tweeters
Daedalus
Fyne
Klipsch
legacy
Living Voice 
Omega
Pure Audio Project
spatial
Tannoy
Volti

Again, I'm especially interested in hearing from folks who have tried more than one of these speakers and can explain what lead them from one brand or model to the next -- and why.

Thanks!
 

128x128hilde45

Showing 2 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,623 posts
 

In 1970 or so I bought a pair of Altec A7s from the Strawberry Alarm Clock's drummer. That was my introduction to efficiency and they sounded amazing and served my bands well until I finally sold them in '86. I'd put the horns in their own frames and sealed and tuned the bass bins by that time, using them bi-amped. To really make them handle uncompressed bass (like a kick drum) I put JBL bass guitar speakers in them and that worked amazingly well.

wolf_garcia
6,623 posts
 

I get amazing results from Heresy IIIs (tried the IVs but the mids were inferior to the IIIs)) and switching between a tubed Dennis Had "Firebottle HO SEP (high output...ha...) and a Pass XA-25. Two REL subs. Was thinking about the Volti Razz but the "no returns under any circumstances" policy is too anti consumer for me, and actually owned a pair of the well regarded ZU "dirty weekend" and thought they were awful. As if nobody at ZU actually listened to them, or they needed way more break-in than I have patience for. Efficient speakers mean the drivers don't work very hard so they're cleaner. Might try a pair of La Scalas sometime.

More to discover