Seeking speakers under $3K for 10x12 ft room and driven by 20wpc tube amp

I am listening to a pair of refurbished Acoustic Research AR-2ax in my office, a similarly sized room to yours, essentially 6’ triangle. You could call them large bookcase, or compact 3 way.

They have level controls for both the tweeters and mids to balance their output in any space. I drive mine with a Luxman 10wpc tube amp. The 10" woofer produces full range without over-powering you when close. My prior Wharfedale 225’s 6.5" woofers needed a sub to avoid sounding small.

They sound so good, I restored a 2nd pair for my Garage/Shop system. I bought new level controls and new tweeters for that pair, and new grille cloth, everything is available for these.

A restored pair of AR-2ax, I would get the stands he shows them on also

ar-2ax rehab

I do not think 20 wpc is enough for low efficiency speakers in a small room, just not loud enough for some material/occasions. Some peaks will be out of gas.

Low efficiency speakers, I would want a 30-45 wpc tube amp, and that's too much heat for a small room, so, rather than solid state amp, I would go for efficient speakers, a 10" woofer helps.

Let's not forget the Iron Law, for Bass, you gotta move a lot of air. I prefer larger woofer to smaller 'long throw' and ports, and using corners to get more out of a 6-1/5" (or even smaller), or use a single non-directional self-powered sub like I did with the Wharfedale's 6.5" vented.

You want to remove the low frequencies from your main low powered amp, so neither the amp nor the speakers try to produce low bass.

I am enjoying my 10 wpc tube amp, just enough with the 90db efficiency AR-2ax. More power would be nice on rare occasions, or more efficient speakers would be smartest, but what might sound as good as these AR-2ax's.

chenry

OP is planning for a small 6’ listening triangle, that might be a bit close to that model JBL.

He mentioned a new Black Ice integrated tube amp, I presume, like me, tube heat in small room, a low powered one. I see they have 12 wpc and 25 wpc models. I never heard Black Ice.

My office, for years I used a Tandberg SS Receiver I liked; after I broke it a Carver Cube SS for years (both from Harvey’s NYC used shelf), because I found my Vintage Fisher 30 wpc mono blocks too much heat for my office.

Redesigned in 2019 for low power tubes/imaging placement the Little Luxman 10 wpc tube amp I took a chance on is the lowest power I ever had, and I subsequently lucked into acquiring a restored pair of AR-2ax Speakers because of a ’nostalgia’ discussion here.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/is-there-any-one-piece-of-vintage-gear-you-most-wished-you-owned

I got them for downstairs, assumed too big for the office, but thought, why not hear them with the Luxman compared to the Wharfedales and self-powered sub. So darn good I kept them here, gave the Wharfedales to my son, and got the 2nd pair of AR-2ax’s I restored myself, those standing ear height horizontal on shelves in my work area in the Garage/Shop system.

When in my office (retired now) I always think of Cousin Brucie (AM) and Alison Steele (FM) as my original pair were new in early 1968, working thru the nights while at college in Brooklyn (Pratt Institute)1966-1970. I was ransacked, they were small enough for the thieves to get them out the window, I always missed them.

I finally re-found the AR-2ax specs, they are 91.5db sensitivity

https://stereonomono.blogspot.com/2014/05/acoustic-research-ar-2ax.html

KLH Model 5, New, Compact 3 Way very similar to the AR-2ax, mostly out of stock, this indicates available

actually available? $2,500 pair new

someone said "provides a more “palpable presence” of the musicians when played at louder levels".

I keep shaking my head when I see all these small drivers trying to be woofers, long throw, ports, slots, corner placement reinforcement, .... and finally, like I did with my Wharfedales, add a self-powered sub so they don’t sound as small as they actually are. Superior parts, crossover wizardry from a magic kingdom cannot get more ’palpable presense’ out of these size drivers.

Your existing speakers indicate a past draw to ribbons, ribbon tweeters, I suspect years of listening with no strong fundamentals and their overtones.

I wish you lived near enough to hear these compact 3 ways with a 10" woofer that my experience indicates you can listen to from a short distance. I assumed they would be ’too big, that close’, so happy to discover I was wrong.

Having level controls to adjust the frequencies to whatever space you use them in is a big plus, repeat, big plus, for any speaker, in any space. The preponderance of room treatments is related to the lack of level controls IMO!

I'm specifically using, thus recommending AR-2ax.

Aren't there other 3 way compact speakers out there with larger woofers to recommend?