Legacy 20/20 and Tubes

If you can deal with a speaker that has frequency response abberations that diverge from "flat" as much as +8/-3 dB's to start off with, you're amp should have enough power to drive them. The speakers are relatively efficient, so gobs of power wouldn't be necessary for most people with typical listening preferences. The thing that would concern me the most would be that the lower current capacity of tubes wouldn't be able to come remotely close to controlling the multiple woofers, producing even more of what is already poorly defined and over the top bass. Then again, ARC tube gear isn't overtly "tubey" sounding, so the slight lack of bass bloom might balance with these speakers reasonably well. Having said that, the fact that ARC gear tends to lean towards slightly bright sounding ( especially as far as tube gear goes ) may aggravate the brightness and treble boost that these speakers already demonstrate.

Obviously, you'll have to listen for yourself and see if YOU like it. Personally, i think that it would be a poor match as these speakers require a soft top end with a slightly lean bottom end. Finding an amp that offers these sonic traits and has GOBS of current available isn't that hard. Sean
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Sean, Wow! Those are some scathing comments on the Legacys. Considering how well-reviewed they are, I wonder, have you actually heard the speakers? I know there are many fans of the 20/20 on this site. I wonder what the real story is on these speakers.

Wow is right. Ask him to list the speakers he uses. A joke indeed.

Kevziek: Yes, i've heard the speakers on multiple different occassions in different locations with different gear driving them. As to the comments that i made pertaining to frequency response abberations, try looking at the Stereophile review of them. Not only is the frequency response attrocious, the step test that examines transient response and phase / polarity is just as bad. This is why i've stressed learning what spec's mean and how to interpret them. If you didn't know how to interpret the spec's that John Atkinson provided yet read the printed text "review" that accompanied those results, you would have thought that they were fabulous.

Reb: If you know so much of what you speak i.e. what speakers i own and run, why don't you list them here for us? Please be specific as to which speakers i have running in the five different systems in my house and which i own but am not currently using.

As to Legacy's in general, i am well familiar with them. My Brother and i just got done rebuilding the mains that my Father uses, which are Legacy's. Believe me, these speakers were designed and put together so poorly that we we didn't know whether to laugh or cry on a regular basis. If you like, i can provide a list of the multitudes of problems that we found with them to demonstrate just how poorly they were put together / how little the designer really knows. The fact that most of these problems are still inherit to currently produced models tells you how little those designing & building Legacy speakers have learned over the years. Sean
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I have heard the 22/22 and liked them for what they are-great pop/rock speakers. But I also totally agree with the first comments above as I think he is right on target with his comments. You really need to get these into your system and listen first before you buy-can't do that, then pass.