Gone are the days of the great audition.

Well, that depends on how long ago it "used to be easy." During the so-called golden age of stereo there were rooms full of a wide range of speakers and components coast to coast. However, most were populated with the usual suspects--JBL, Bose, Altec, KLH, AR, Advent, Infinity, and perhaps Dahlquist, ESS, and Ohm. However, if you wanted to audition some truly boutique speakers (e.g., original Klipschorns, JansZen, Soundlabs or other full-range electrostatics) it wasn't much easier than it is now. For that you always needed something like Sound By Singer in NYC.

Living in Seattle, I have immediate access to Sonus Faber, Vienna, Magnepan, Wilson, lower end Focal, GoldenEar, B&W, Linn, Tannoy, Rega, Quad, Martin-Logan, Dali, Gallo, Totem, Alon,and several others, but not Dynaudio, Magico or Focal's Utopia series.

However, I have to say that if were in the market for a $170K pair of speakers, a flight and overnight hotel stay for an audition would be chump change.

For a $2K range floorstander friendly with a tube amp, you have GOT to audition the GoldenEar Triton 2 and Triton 3. Triton 3's come in right at $2K/pair. There are two authorized dealers in the DC area:

IQ Home Entertainment
7101 Democracy Blvd
Westfield Montgomery Mall (Upstairs - Macy's Home Wing)
Bethesda, MD 20817
703-218-9855

IQ Home Entertainment
10890 Fairfax Blvd
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-218-9855

Sandy Gross, founder of GoldenEar and previously co-founder of Polk Audio adn Definitive Audio, powers his personal pair of Triton 2's with a low-powered SET tube amp. These speakers come with a Heil-style motion transformer folded ribbon tweeter, midrange drivers with response of to 20K for a good blend with the tweeters, and internally powered, passive radiator augmented woofers. I heard the Triton 2's in a factory demo a couple years ago. Very impressive.

One caution: the GoldenEars are low enough in cost that many dealers pair them with mass market receivers for demos, in which case you will be underwhelmed as the Tritons will amply reveal the receiver's shortcomings. The GoldenEars deserve excellent amplification. You might want to call ahead to see what IQ's setup is, and if they can't provide a quality amp, see if you can bring in your PrimaLuna.

^^^
Mapman, it's definitely true in general, but even more true with the Tritons because their ribbon tweeter and 20Khz response midrange are particularly revealing of upstream electronics while their low price invites the use of sub-par electronics. One lower-cost amp that *would* be a good match is the Marantz PM8004 integrated amp. That's a $999 unit that sounds more like something in the $2.5 to 4K range.

Your point is well taken. For a long time I powered my ADS L1090s with a Vector Research receiver (built by NEC). Then one day I auditioned a VSP Labs TransMOS Gold Edition 200wpc high current power amp in my house, powering the L1090s. The difference was stunning and at that point I said to myself, "no way is this amp leaving the house."

02-16-13: Jmacinnis
So what type speakers would be "unfriendly" with a 40-60 watt tube amp then? Sensitivity below x???

With tube amps it's more than just a power thing; it's an output impedance/damping factor thing as well.

First, with the power, it's a combination of speaker sensitivity and room size. 36 wpc may be plenty for a speaker of 87 dB efficiency and up in a mostly enclosed room up to--say--14x18. If it's a much bigger room or open architecture and you listen to big band, metal, and/or largescale orchestra, the power may not be enough. If you listen to more acoustic small ensemble music it could be fine.

The other part is that some tube amps have a high output impedance, which means they need to see a load of 8 ohms or more. Some speakers also require a higher damping factor (related to the amp's output impedance) to control woofer cone excursions. These factors comprise what is often meant by "tube friendly. That is, a speaker with a higher average impedance and no great requirements in damping factor.

In the case of your PrimaLuna, however, it has large enough output transformers to offer 4-ohm taps, so that part of the "tube friendly" equation is taken care of. Your amp is very highly reviewed internationally. Still, for a floorstanding full-range speaker the GoldenEar Triton series have built-in amplifiers to power the low bass drivers. This provides an easier task for your PrimaLuna to shine where it's best--the upper bass and above, especially the magic you get in a tube-driven midrange. And there are two locations in Greater DC where you can audition them.

Knownothing: I just tried calling Experience Audio and the voice mailbox is full--just like when I tried it a couple of years ago. At the time, I talked to the guy who runs Audio Connection down the street and he said Experience had been "temporarily closed" for some time. Do you know for a fact that it's in operation again? If I were Dynaudio I'd look for more reliable representation in the area.

Magnolia closing down their anchor store on Roosevelt is sure the end of an era. I almost bought a pair of Sonus Faber Veneres there last Fall but wound up getting Magneplanar 1.7s from Definitive down the street instead. I have bought various things there over the years.