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High efficiency speakers for Shindo

I recently bought a Shindo Aurieges pre and think that a total revamp of my system is now in order. After doing some research it seems that the best match for the pre is, surprise, surprise a Shindo tube amp. Since I'm on a budget, the entry level Montille is most realistic, its a flea powered 15 wpc push pull. I'm thinking that this won't do with my Gershman Avant Garde's which are a rather inefficient 87 dB, so I may have to trade em in.

But I do love the Gershmans for their great bass response and silky mids. Can anyone suggest a high eff speakers (say 90+ dB) that would mate well with the Shindos and also give me good bass slam so that I won't regret selling the Gershmans. My basement room measures about 13' x 20' but with a 6' ceiling. I listen to a huge range of music - classical chamber music, jazz, indie rock, electronic, everything from Albeniz to Zappa.

Speakers that I've been considering are Audio Note, Living Voice, Ref 3A. Others have suggested single driver speakers like the Omega which are intriguing, but can they really rock out? I'd like to keep it below $5K used. Any other suggestions or thoughts on what would be a good fit?
mikeyc8
mikeyc8 OP
174 posts
 
So I got delivery of the Shindo Aurieges yesterday. Hooked it up to my Marantz 8, Cayin CD50T and Gershmans and it sounds quite good. Its a fine pre-amp, very detailed yet musical at the same time, that's a very difficult combination to have. It hits the muscial sweet spot, not too warm nor too analytical.

When I hooked it up to my TT (ProJect 9.1, Dyna 10x and Graham Slee Era Gold V) it was disappointing however, the music sounded "veiled" and lacked "immediacy". Since it sound fine with the CDP I suspect that there's a mismatch between the Shindo and the Slee or could it be the phono cables (Cardas Neutral Ref). The Shindo Pre doesn't have a phono stage. Any thoughts on what could be the problem?
prfont
89 posts
 
Mike,

It's too bad that the montille isn't a "real" shindo, guess i"ll have to suffer another few years with it until I can move up!:)

Unfortunately, the one I love is the cortese at a mere 10K!!

Ouch!
spyddie
6 posts
 
Avantgarde, Tannoy, lowther..... May be this is not your cup of tea , you might want to try the new Quad 2805, they sounded beautiful with Quad classII monos, which is rated at 15w/ch. I always through ESL speakers (soundlab,martin logan) are very difficult to drive but surprisesly the new quad 2805s are very easy on the amp.
darkmoebius
900 posts
 
Hi Mikeyc8,

I had the Gram Slee Era + Elevator EXP stepup. One thing that is absolutely critical is that GS components stay powered up 24/7. If not, it takes a good 24-72 hours for it to sound it's best. Gram Slee, himself, thinks 2 weeks.

Regardless, I noticed a distinct improvement after 24-48 hours of power.

How long had the Era been powered up before you gave the setup a listen?
mikeyc8 OP
174 posts
 
Dark: its been powered up for several months. I tried changing the cables running from the Slee - from DH Labs Revalation to Cardas Neutral Ref and it helped a bit, but its still not where it should be. Are you using the Elevator EXP because you have a low output MC cart? My Dyn 10x5 is a HO MC so I don't believe I need one, correct me if I'm wrong though.
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