High Efficiency Speakers Your top 3 or more

Ladavid -- Are you sure that you don't mean Total Victory IV's, which are listed at the Coincident website as being 95db? The Super Victory (there is no Super Victory 4 listed) is indicated as 92.5db.

8 watts into a pair of 95db speakers will produce an spl of about 95db at a 4 meter listening distance. With most music that should be way more than enough volume. However with classical symphonic music that is well recorded and minimally compressed (typically on audiophile-oriented labels), in my experience occasional brief peaks will reach 100 to 105db at the listening position.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks Grant, and thanks for the link to the paper, which as it happens I had seen some time ago. As I indicated in my post yesterday, that appears above and was addressed to Ladavid, my experience has been that well recorded, minimally compressed symphonic music tends to have brief peaks in the area of 100 to 105 db at the listening position, which seems nicely consistent with both Lou's comments and with the 80 watt/channel capability of my amp.

Best regards,
-- Al

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned the Daedalus Ulysses, which are 97db and are in the op's price range.

Although I have not yet heard them, they have received effusively glowing comments from many users here and elsewhere, as well as in reviews that are linked to from the Daedalus site. Based on those comments, and on the extent to which their design characteristics meet my particular requirements and preferences, I felt completely confident in recently ordering a pair, which I am now awaiting. Thirty day audition privileges are standard policy, although I have no expectation of needing to take advantage of that policy.

The only less than glowing comments I have seen about them were offered by a few people who listened to them at RMAF 2009. However in a previous thread here Lou Hinkley (Mr. Daedalus Audio) indicated that was due to problems with the room, which I have no reason to doubt.

My requirements and preferences in choosing these speakers were/are:

1)Top-notch sound quality.
2)Wide dynamic range, specifically the ability to cleanly reproduce the peaks of well-recorded classical symphonic music.
3)Not requiring a high-powered amplifier (e.g., 200W+) to do so.
4)Not requiring a subwoofer.
5)Tube-friendly impedance characteristics.
6)Good imaging.
7)Elegant, refined appearance that is a reasonable match to my wood-panelled 1950’s living room. It seems that everyone who sees them raves about their appearance, finish, and build quality. I ordered them in the optional quartersawn white oak.
8)A price that is considerably less than that of a new car.

I know of no other speaker that meets all of these requirements as well.

Regards,
-- Al

Maybe we can get an update after Almarg's arrive?

Yes, I should have them in about 3 or 4 weeks, at which time I plan to post a system description with pics, and perhaps my initial listening impressions in this thread as well (although it will take some time after they arrive until they are reasonably broken in).

Initially I'll be driving them with a fairly inexpensive, seemingly well built, and apparently no longer available Chinese-made amp called a Paxthon VTA-160, which uses 8 x EL34 (4/channel), 2 x 12AX7 and 2 x 12AU7, delivering 80 watts/channel. It's actually a simple integrated amp, with source selection and volume control, but I'm using it just as a power amp, driven by a Classe CP-60 preamp. I've re-tubed it with a matched octet of SED Wing'd C EL34's, and vintage NOS Telefunken and RCA small signal tubes.

In the meantime, you can search the discussion forums and the review section here under "Daedalus," and also read the reviews that are linked to from the Daedalus site. They rarely appear for sale used, btw -- there was only one pair of Ulysses for sale at Audiogon in the last year or so, as far as I am aware.

Regards,
-- Al

Grant, as I mentioned parenthetically in my earlier post I have not heard them, which btw is why I was hesitant to enter this thread previously. Based on the many glowing comments I've read about them; and on how uniquely well they seem to meet all of the 8 requirements and preferences I listed above; and on the 30 day audition privilege; and on the fact that Lou is apparently one of the genuine good-guys in the audio industry; and on my willingness to ultimately revise the surrounding system to better suit them (if necessary), I've purchased them sight (and sound) unseen.

Best regards,
-- Al