Reasonably sensitive speakers for tube amps, max $2k/pair, new or used
While this topic has been covered before, I'm interested in both recent experiences with new products or anyone who just would like to chime in.
I have a couple friends interested in tube amps, lower wattage -- 40 wpc or below. Before they pull the trigger there, they need to find the best higher sensitivity speakers they can, hopefully at $2k or below, new or used.
QUESTION: What high sensitivity speakers would you recommend to them, new or used? What did you try and NOT like? Characterizations of their sound, experience with a trial period, the company, etc. appreciated.
I'll pass the best answers and links along to them.
after 49 yrs, I realize these Seas Magnesium midwoofers are excatly what I was looking for,,and soon to add a Crescendo tweeter. I can't think of a better combo, Dual W18's, But since you are starting from scratcgh, go dual W22ex. more bang in the lows. w22's are low sens . well lets say avg sensitivity, , 8 ohms, 87 db, the Crescendo at 6 ohms/92db 40 watt tube = easy drive w dynamics.
I’ve been driving 89db speakers with a pair of old tube amps that are 20wpc in triode, and 35wpc in ultralinear mode. I typically use triode for the preferred sound quality, and almost never feel I lack power. It plays loud enough to disturb my wife and kids. It depends a lot on the room and their preferences, but average sensitivity isn’t a liability for many folks, which opens up many other outstanding choices.
Wharfedale, Monitor Audio, KEF would be on my audition list for them to see and hear.
Ascend Acoustics for new tube friendly speakers. Also Zu Dirty Weekends for a fun less refined sound. For those that enjoy projects eBay has a wealth of vintage JBLs ready to refurbish.
Great suggestions so far. Thanks. TMR has an Omega at the moment, the only situation in which one can *try* an Omega. Ascend Acoustics popped to mind for me, too, but I have not looked at their specs. Mozartfan's list of ingredients will be helpful if my friends want to climb the DIY learning curve, otherwise, they'll need a Rosetta Stone.
@tvad a top authority on this subject, i don’t have much to add to his thoughts, which i agree with -- all of the named speakers have what i hear as troublesome colorations or other issues that rule themselves out for me, despite them all also having some clear strengths
only thing to add is that fritz’s speakers, while not that efficient nominally, work quite well with lower powered amps - i know you are quite familiar with those as you have had them... but not sure if you tried them with silky smooth flea watters...
also... search out on earlier threads for writings by @bjesien and @phd (iirc) on their thoughts on omegas
Thanks, all. Even knowing that the parameters (e.g. $2k or under) are impossible will help with the eventual choices, perhaps moving them toward hybrid amplification.
The lower power only means peak SPLs will be more limited in general and that may or may not be an issue depending how loud they need and how far from speakers they will be when listening. 40 watts can drive many speakers to decent levels and if a tube amp the amp will likely soft clip if overdriven which is good thing. Some or maybe most Class D amps will soft clip as well.
An easy load will help any amp perform it's best, allowing decent SPLs with minimal watts. I’d add Fritz or Ohm Walsh for that myself. Two very good and very different additional ways to go.
Use this calculator to help assess speakers based on efficiency.
I picked up Heresy IV's open box from my local retailer for $2500. A little.over your range but highly sensitive and.a great match for a tube source. Highly recommend if you can get a used pair.
You need to find a vintage 16 ohm american speaker made prior to 1965 to experience low power tube equipment properly and when you hear one you will never go back to new speakers on any music.
Tekton but don’t return them or you’ll regret it. The owner is a prick and doesn’t care what nice you decide to return. Zu is super patient and takes returns no questions asked. They make really good matches for tube amps just take care in your tube selection to maximize the good virtues and minimize the bad. I found 6922 tubes and KT66 in my Decware amp to produce the best Sonics and balance with none of the distortion or shout that they can have. Used try spatial audio. I ended up with these after Zu and love them
"Tekton but don’t return them or you’ll regret it. The owner is a prick and doesn’t care what nice you decide to return".....seems the flavor of the month in low fi speakers is finally getting exposed as the junk they really are along with their bs send em back you pay big bucks policy.
+1 on what speakermaster said. For DIY look at GR Research. Danny has some amazing stuff, most very efficient. I have XLS Encore, and they are crazy good for less than $1k with flat pack box kit and every crossover upgrade offered. Don’t rule out designs like KLH model Six, Advent large, and Warfedale models. I rebuilt a pair of model Sixes eliminating the tweeter level switch, using nice mid level crossover components, and they are jaw dropping with 12 watts of EL84 power. Most of these models would likely perform admirably with similar upgrades. You can’t really begin to narrow the field till you add room size, music genres taste, and desired listening levels. My room is small, and I like rock. I doubt I use more that 2 watts in normal listening, that give me plenty of reserve power for dynamic swings.
Look into Audio Nirvana drivers. You’ll have to build/or have someone build boxes for you. Once installed you’ll be amazed. Quite a bit under your budget aswell. Outside of that id be looking at Tekton Perfect Set. Would love to hear a pair of these as I'm a SET guy.
Sorry, mine are the Modern CAMs. Pic added to virtual system. The SAMs are out of your price range but both the regular CAMs and my Modern CAMs should be in budget. Louis also has other offerings but my research and experience with his Super 3 HO XRS tell me to go Alnico driver in whatever cabinet line you can afford or want. My next speaker will probably be a SAM (large monitor) or XRS (floor standing) in HO (high output) dual Alnico driver config. The CAMs are considered small/medium monitors.
"Tekton but don’t return them or you’ll regret it. The owner is a prick and doesn’t care what nice you decide to return".....seems the flavor of the month in low fi speakers is finally getting exposed as the junk they really are along with their bs send em back you pay big bucks policy.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Good Post ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saying "the owner is a prick" is unhelpful and rude.
In my opinion, you should either describe what happened which was problematic (or somehow injurious) or take down your comment as a below-the-belt, ad hominem attack.
In my opinion the guy is a prick. He’s dismissive to questions over email and just wants you to call so he can ignore your call for weeks on end. Once you do get him on the phone, he treats you like a moron who should stop asking questions and just give him the money. Asked about the return policy and he went into a rant about people who complain about paying a restock fee of hundreds of dollars and how it’s a criminal act against small business owners like himself to be pressured into offering free trials to sell their products and that companies that do it are desperate and that I’d be stupid to expect a free trial. I said it wasn’t a super attractive proposition to have to pay a couple hundred bucks if they end up not being what I want and he just sighed and said he’d call me back some other time. Also, I’m less than an hour from the factory and said I could pick them up and bring them back personally in the event they didn’t work to save the costs he said he incurred to necessitate the restock fee. He refused and said I had to pay no matter what. Other people have had better experiences I’m sure and maybe I caught him on an off day, but didn’t make me want to buy anything from him. Seems like he wants to make his margin off of you whether you buy or don’t buy. There are better products with better and more gracious folks behind them is all I’m saying.
Hello, I am thinking the Tekton SET. I think they have an upgraded crossover package according to a forum friend. I was thinking this was a great match for Decware. You can call Tekton to get the details. I hope this helped.
The thing is, the really good-sounding high-sensitivity speakers start a bit over 2K.
@twoleftears is being kind here... i would say 5-6k might be a minimum... as usual it is all about where one sets the bar for ’good sounding’
as for tekton, my personal take is i would tend to discount one-off input from folks here bashing the person behind what is otherwise a respected and well known maker... anyone who has been around a consumer retail luxury good business knows that there can always be a small percentage of folks and instances where getting along and making them happy may be nigh impossible... a function of circumstances, demands being made, an off-day by the owner (they are people too) etc etc...
i would say 5-6k might be a minimum... as usual it is all about where one sets the bar for ’good sounding’
This is very useful, indeed. After all, it's likely a very good sounding speaker that's *not* sensitive can be had for $2k or less and then the money which would have been necessary for a really good sounding speaker could be apportioned back to the amp. In other words, if $5-6k for a really good sensitive speaker is needed in order to save on tube amps, the outcome here seems to be that spending on amps is fine. It becomes more about how the sensitive speaker w/ lower power tube stuff sounds, as a combo, compared to a less sensitive one with a more powerful amp.
@missioncooneryWe get it guy. You hate Tektons as much as 99.9% of people like them. You can go on about return policy’s and cheap boxes all you want but you can’t explain away their HiFi awards and huge demand.
and no, no shilling here dude. I’m a person who has heard their products and like them. Also, I’ve spoken with Eric and was respectful to him. We had a nice conversation. You don’t like him? Whatever. You don’t like their products? Fine, then don’t buy them. But endlessly bashing them based on you opinion is weak. At this point I’m beginning to consider your posts trolling. So, here’s a suggestion. Instead of bashing someone and their product, hows about promoting a competing product if you can find one. After all that was the point of this thread.
And I ain’t keyboard warrioring either. I’d say this to anyone’s face. I have a good deal of respect for the man who brought reasonably prices HiFi to my home so I can recoup the lost value of overpriced museum pieces that did less.
I recently watched a vid on Klipsch La Scalas. You find a beat up used pair for 1500 bucks and upgrade the crossover and drivers for 500-1000 bucks and have a pair that supposedly sound comparable to the modern ones. I might try it myself sometime. Those are in the 100db/w range I think. That would be great with the low tube watts.
Just for reference, Ohm speakers can be returned during trial period for shipping cost only. Company has been around for 50 years now and is not “desperate”. Also a sterling reputation for customer service. Very backlogged as well these days though I hear.
I have been using Omega Super Alnico Monitors(SAM’s) with a Will Vincent built ST-70 KT66’s wired in triode(20w) and XR-audio dual mono tube pre. Love the pairing!
Ecterrel...."We get it guy. You hate Tektons as much as 99.9% of people like them. You can go on about return policy’s and cheap boxes all you want but you can’t explain away their HiFi awards and huge demand."......Im sorry i didnt realize that 99.9% of the audio community like Tekton and im in the .1% and i seem to have missed all the awards the products have received, my mistake ....but until the tekton clown posse stops trying to shoving this down our throats the .1% will speak out bs..enjoy em
To those who maybe think I was being to demanding or too time consuming for Eric Alexander to be courteous, I had two main questions regarding my amp wattage and type and my room size to get an idea of what speaker would be the best match. The whole interaction was a one sentence email response for me to call the shop instead of emailing (which I thought would be easier so he could answer in his own time) and then me attempting 2-3 times over a few weeks to call and get no response. I finally got him a few weeks later and our phone call was less than a few minutes. I know what overbearing is and I’m self aware enough to know when I’m being that and when I’m not. The phone call lasted three minutes or so and made it clear to me I was not important and he didn’t give a sh!t about my business. Just shook my head after the call like “what the the hell was that all about? F me for wanting to ask a question”. So yeah probably an off day for him but still, I couldn’t think of a single thing I had done to warrant his response. Do they make good speakers? Maybe they do. I don’t care to try them now. YMMV but my experience was not good so it’s not worth chasing the guy to see if he’ll be nicer next time. I’ll move on and I did. Just a caveat emptor over here….
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