Please Recommend Highly Efficient Floor Standing Non-Horn Speaker Suggestions

I have seen a couple of references to Fyne speakers here.  I have a pair of F702s, made in Scotland.  I am driving them with a McIntosh MC2120 (120 wpc, refurbed about 10:years ago) from a Rogue Audio RP-1 preamp.  Sources are Apple lossless and an NAD 658 CD player, both fed through Shiit Bifrost 2.  The room is about 13x22x8, with a 10 foot wide open area to the dining room to the left of the listening area.  I rarely have to turn the volume on the RP-1 beyond about half-way to achieve the volume level where the speakers really “open up” in terms of instrument placement and separation.  I am very, very pleased with the F702s, and I am considering a Rogue Audio Atlas Magnum III to either supplement (bi-amping) or to replace the MC2120.  The recent upgrades from an NAD. integrated amp and no separate DAC were an “ear opener” for me.

@jaudio1 The Ascends offer smoother highs than the Be tweeter and the soundstage is more articulate and larger. In many ways, there is just a more neutral/honest presentation of the sound. I really like the Carreras, and I like my Salk SS6M, but as I listened more — especially to classical symphony, piano, and various acoustic instruments, the Ascends were better windows onto what seemed to me the "real" character of those instruments. Plus, again, larger and more detailed sound field.

@jtcf Thank you! Well, I just know how they sound in my situation, but I was really looking for something with multiple drivers with either an AMT or other ribbon tweeter. The Legacy speaker I heard was too huge and not that engaging. I heard an Apertura which sounded divine but it was $11.5k and, well, no — not yet. The Ascends had multiple drivers, and the RAAL, and the reviews and online comments I read just said to me to try them for 30 days and eat the shipping if I didn’t like them. Well, they were tested with various amps and compared with other speakers, and they were never harsh, even with my low ceilings. They blended perfectly with my Rythmik and Rel subs. So, I kept them. I’ll try to write this up, soon.

@jonwatches1 You offer a great list. I’m saving this! Personally, I wanted a tower with multiple drivers and in a $4k or less price range. The Ascends’ efficiency was proved to me by the way my lowest power tubes handled their load. Again, it’s about the speakers not dipping down and calling on the amp to produce sudden bursts of power. This is what I think makes the Fritz speakers work so well with tube amps. Salks do fine but I think they like a bit more power. Look around 1.5k and 3k hZ on the graph on this page: https://www.salksound.com/model.php?model=SS+6M 

Goldenear Trition 1.r or References are 92-93 db sensitive and can be driven easily with a 75 watt tube amp. I am using a VAC Ren 70/70 with the Triton 1.r's and it works perfectly. These speakers have a 1600 watt bass amplifier so they do very deep.

@hilde45

How does the Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower compare to the Fritz Carrera BE that you reviewed...especially when paired with subs.  Thanks.

I have Tekton Lore B's with the beryllium tweeters. Nice and smooth highs with great mids and bass.

GoldenEar Triton Reference 

I am thinking about buying a pair of Fyne speakers.  They are easy to drive and come in many price points. The ones I've heard have sounded great. 

You should probably state a price range you are thinking about. 

+1 ZU Soul VI

@alphonsodamato : High efficiency makers (>95 db) - wide range of prices. All made in North America or have dealers in North America (one or two exceptions)

Would also focus on impedance - with these sort of speakers should be able to have 8 or 6 ohms. Would not buy a 4 ohm speaker

At 90 - 95db sensitivity, there are additional brands not mentioned below (which your amp would easily drive, if the speaker is 8 or 6 ohms)

Caintuck (open baffle, mostly)

Classic Audio

Coherent Audio

Creation Audio (Australia, however)

Cube Audio

Daedalus

Fern & Roby

Fleetwood Sound ($)

Goodwin Speakers

Lii Audio

NSMT

Ocellia (France, $)

Omega Speakers (mentioned above)

Pure Audio Project (open baffle)

Spatial (open baffle)

Zu

(The Salks and Ascends mentioned above seem to be of pretty ordinary efficiency, unless I am missing something. Left out Klipsch because of large footprint. I may have left out something mentioned above it’s by accident)

Fun question - let us know as you start to narrow things down, would be great to hear your thinking!

Have a great day

+1 on Zu Audio speakers.

I was lucky enough to get a pair of the fully uprgraded Dirty Weekends from the last and final run. (Caveat—during pandemic w/shortages I waited 9months)

These show up for sale now again, but Sean over at Zu says they’ll bring a similar product to market soon.  

When your wife, who normally wishes you would “keep it down”, says, “whoa! I’ve never heard that before in this piece!” Or “these sound closer to “live” than I’ve ever heard!”, you’re onto something.

I normally push them with a peachtree Nova 150. However, given they’re high sensitivity, playing with other amps has been a lot of fun as well as instructive in the hobby.

…but with the nova and the ODWs I can run everyone out of the house and get the neighbors upset.😅

best of luck!

dgc

DCM Time Windows can crack the plaster with a 50 watt amp! My favorite speaker for the past five years! 

Another mention the DeVore Orangutans. Outstanding speakers that work great even on SET power outputs.

+1 kanta 2 or 3 

If you want to use very low power tube amps there are only a few choices that are not horn speakers.

In my system the Luxman MB-3045 tube amps at about 60 wpc are an excellent match for the ProAc Response D-40r (90db)

+1 for NSMT Model 50. 100 dB. I've used with 45, 2A3, 300B, First Watt M2 

FWIW...The MC275 will drive my Focal Kanta No.2s just fine and they are rated at 91dB. Since they tend to drop to less than 3 ohms at 105Hz the 4-ohm taps are often preferred. 

Just adding my humble 2 cents.

if you don’t mind dipping slightly below to 89dB sensitivity, take a look at the Kharma CRM 3.2 FE or their similar models. The 3.2 was reportedly voiced with a pair of single ended Lamm ML2. Just prepare to feed it with high quality front end because thats the only way to extract the best from these speakers. They are extremely revealing. Speaker load is very easy with tube friendly phase and impedance.

The 3.2 throws a very natural soundstage as deep and wide as your recording allows. Image is rock sold and believable is a smooth analog manner. This is one of the few speaker I have the pleasure to own that doesn’t need room correction and sound completely uncolored. I have no problem driving them with a pair of 90 Watts Class A to reasonable loud levels.

Get a modern pair of Klipsch Heresy speakers and simply leave the grills on.

@alphonsodamato 

Perhaps Legacy Signature but I need a smaller footprint for the speakers I want to drive with the....

I looked at the Legacy Signature and the enclosure looks close to minimal allowable for the woofers.  Are you looking for a smaller speaker which likely means smaller woofers?  Seems that even bookshelf speaker stands have similar footprints to floor standers. 

Your 75 watt MC275 VI tube amp will drive a lot of great speakers.  What's your budget?

Tekton Design

Omega Loudspeakers. They're beautiful, efficient and sound fantastic.

Devore Orangutan series.

Among my favorites are Charney Audio Companion (Particularly with AER driver option), Cube Audio Nenuphar Basis, Fyne Audio F1, Audio Note AN-E..

give the monitor audio platinum 200 Gen 2 or 300 Gen 2 and listen that MPD tweeter is the best in the world right now, goes up to 100,000 clean, no other tweeter on the market can do that, so it makes everything lower down sound that much better.

@hilde45 of course you would know better than I,having actually owned them! Those are the first that came to mind that many seem happy with. I also forgot about Cube Audio.I was close to buying a pair of Ascends myself, but got an offer too good to refuse on the Zus.I'll look forward to your review:-)

Cube Audio

Tekton, absolutely. 

VERITY... CLARITY

COINCIDENT... WARM

TEKTON... FABULOUS FOR THE PRICE

No one has mentioned Spatial Audio Labs or GR-Research open baffle/dipole designs.

Haven’t heard, but I’m intrigued by Coherent Audio in Canada.

Audiovector! Speakers of the year 2021 in Stereophile. 
 

A high quality speaker using the excellent Beyma AMT Tweeter-Midrange with a wave guide, midBass and powered Low  Bass below 90 Hz 

Spatial Audio technologies X3, X5 Loudspeakers  and very fair priced between $7 and $9k.

What, no love for Tekton? ;-)

You might like the Wolf von Langa SON. Cutting edge field coil drivers, dipole presentation, happy with 18 watts. Sounds alive.

Here’s a nice review: HFA - Wolf von Langa SON

@OP

You may consider , speakers with AMT  tweeter.

I think AMT tweeter is a bit like an harmonica.  It may pair well with tube gear

Audiovector has AMT tweeter.

So far is seems that you have a contemporary 75 watt MC275 VI tube amp with no mention of room size/layout/listening habits/budget.

More info would be helpful for informed feedback.

Also, are you not interested in horn "based" speakers at all?

DeKay

Many hi efficiency non horn speakers are single driver speakers like Omega or Lowthers or back loaded horn cabinets.  I’ve been in this hobby 40 years and used to sell audio gear at the retail level & wouldn’t necessarily suggest high efficiency speakers with a Mac 275 amp.  I certainly would with a low powered SET amp though.

Check out Pure Audio Project.

Audio Note AN-E.

@jtcf I love my Salks, but if you look at a fair number of the speakers on his site, they are not easy to drive. The HT speakers are better but by and large, I would say this is a major lacuna for the company.

Fritz speakers were driven easily by my tube amps. They are delightful sounding, voiced with sensitivity and genuine expertise. I think they provide exceptional value.

Stenheim Alumine 2.

Oops.  Not floorstander, can't delete.

Tannoy

Most Triangles are very tube friendly, maybe not for set amps but all low power amps. 

Tekton, Zu, Devroe, Raven Audio CeLest, QLN Sonora,

I have been very, very impressed with Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeter. I plan to do a write up, soon, but these are my main speakers now. Their tweeters are really top notch; very clear without the harshness of other metal dome tweeters I’ve heard. They are not at the top of the speaker, and that, too, is a design plus. The bass is quite good but, more important for me, they mate extremely seamlessly with my subs.

Don't get bogged down with sensitivity specs, thought these are over 90db, effectively. More important, look at the impedance graphs -- barely dips below 5 ohms, if memory serves. I also have Salks, but they are stand mounts and harder to drive well.

Ascend is a great company to work with. They really know what they’re doing. Very responsive over email, phone. I am driving them with Quicksilver Mono 60wpc and even with KT77 tubes, they have plenty of get up and go. They sing with my Pass XA 25. At the $3k price point, I don’t think I could have found a better match for my gear.

Flies under the radar as a Canadian company, but Verity Audio makes some of the best speakers I’ve ever heard and are also high efficiency. 

Check out Reference 3A  i use their standmount speakers with my 4 watt tube amp Decware mini Torii and if it nice and loud in a 12 by 20 room

Strictly speaking “highly efficient” means more than 100dB sensitivity, and there’s no way around that sans horns - indeed we’d be in all-horn territory here. If the 90-95dB sensitivity range will suffice - that is, it seems it must - that are some options. Have you considered Daedalus Audio?

Omego Audio in Ct .