Perfect speakers for audio Research Classic 30

Dear adg101,

thank you for your reply, for your solidarity and for your wishes, I really hope that your beloved president would act as fast as possible towards US partial/total lockdown as we are doing in Italy, collecting the first good results yet, I think that it's the only way for US to avoid the contagion on a very large scale...

Heresy and Klipsch  are available in Italy but they are not my cup of tea, they have  a very characterized sound, with mid/mid-highs too forwarded, and they are not so refined as I'm used to.

Actually Proacs in my opinion are not such a difficult load but simply the D30 are a bit "too much" for both the small Classic 30 and my listening room (4,5 x 6,5 mt).

I wouldn't like to downgrade to the studio series, probably the D20 or the D2 would be more suitable...

But I was curious to hear your experiences about your matches with the Classic 30, maybe with some classic american (but not necessarily american...)  speakers like, I don't know... Thiels, Vandersteens, Snells and so on...

Thank you a lot!

Mario

I'm very sorry to have started a politic conflict, I agree that this is not the right place and time.

@dweller yes, we have Golden Ear brand in Italy even if it's not so common, difficult to hear them, I think that the closest place is in Brescia which is now one of the most hit cities in northern Italy, and it's almost impossible to find them used, anyway it is a good suggestion, high efficiency and a simple impedance module and as you said a very good and powerful power amp to power bass drivers...when all this will be finished I will do my best to audition them, I think that the most suitable model is the Triton One R, as the reference is too expensive for my pockets.

@daveyf  I'm a good expert about Sonus Faber speakers and I used to be a SF collector, I owned almost all the standmount speakers designed by Franco Serblin, from Minima FM2 to Guarneri Homage, passing through Electa Biwiring and Amator mk1, probaly I missed just the Extrema, too expensive and tricky to optimize, and I still own a very beautiful pair of Minima FM2 mk2,  amazing italian clear walnut, they are nice coupled with the Classic 30 but they don't sing and fly...

I think that the current production is largely overpriced and it has completely lost its soul and personality, moreover expecially the Minimas they are really too small, I cannot think to come SO back to small speakers after the Proacs D30...

@gdnrbob I'm sorry but the matter here is not what could be fine for Proacs D30, unfortunately now I know it very well...

What I'm asking is what is fine as speakers for the Classic 30, any other suggestions, better if based on personal experiences?

Thank you very much!

Mario  

Ok, maybe you were more interested in the politic conflict than in my banal request?


 Mario

@ marqmike  it is not the first time that I heard about this pairing, and since the 1.2 are really cheap, although undoubtedly oldish, it could be a good attempt...

@ jjss49 I'm sorry but I've the opposite problem, my D30R in my room and with my Classic 30 (which has half the power of all your amps...) sound too "fat" and thick and bass is not out of control but not so precise and controlled, surely I don't need a subwoofer.

And I've a very good ARC LS25 mk1 but it doesn't better the situation and recently I prefer to run the system with my Ps Audio Directstream dac directly connected to the power amp, the sound is a bit more defined and controlled.

Regarding tubes I've just ordered a couple of RCA Clear Top nos, and I hope that they will produce exactly the opposite effect than to furtherly warm the Cl 30 tonal balance, after that it will be the time of the power tubes, which are probably part of the problem as they are not the original 6550 but two couples of chinese KT88  branded Audio research, probably old and tired, I'm thinking to two matched couples of

- SED Winged C
- TAD 6550 A STR
 
or what the italian distributor is suggesting me

- Sovtek 6550 WE

Some other suggestions about tubes are obviously welcomed...


Sorry jjss49 for not having been able to explain my problems...


Mario

Dear  jjss49,

agin sorry for the confusion, I think that the matter is my poor written (and spoken as well...) english.

I think that the problem is not the Proac being high line or lower line, the Studio series is very good as well..., but simply that they probably need more driving capabilities than those of the Cl30.

I owned some years ago a pair of Melody power amps with KT88 but my experience stops there, I've red that in general 6550 are a bit more thin and dry in their sound than the KT88 but I don't know if this is a matter of control or their specific  personality, when the KT88 are more powerful and complete in the lower frequencies, this is the reason why I'm thinking to replace the current, old KT88 with new, good quality 6550.

Moreover the Classic 30 has been designed to work with 6550, not with KT88, although they are somehow compatible...

Mario 

!!!!

Any other suggestion?

Mario