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Speaker Suggestions for 300b SET Amp

I built an Elekit 8600 300b set amp recently.  It's amazing. I maxed out upgrades (all Takman resistors, Mundorf top end caps, solder/wiring, etc.).  It's a wonderful amp. It cost me $2k to build it and it's glorious.


My issue hasn't been the amp, but finding speakers that I want to use with it.  


I started with Omega XRS 8 Juniors (~$2k). I broke them in for 300 hours and, while they did get better, they largely sounded like the top and bottom ends were just truncated off at both ends the sound spectrum. They sounded more akin to a transistor radio speaker. I feel terrible to say that and I hope others really love them and hear them differently, as the company is great and the owner is wonderful. They just weren't for me.


So, I just paired the 300b up with some inefficient speakers (both KEF LS50s and Wharfedale 80th anniversary Dentons). Both speakers were part of other systems I have.  Both sets, and especially the cheaper Wharfedales, just sing with the 300b.  They do not play particularly loud given their efficiency ratings, yet they sound wonderful for very close nearfield listening. 


But what I'd like to do is go a bit more into the full range speaker category without buying a massive product. Or, I consider a smaller bookshelf/monitor if it were more efficient.


What speakers do folks like with their 300bs?  


128x128jbhiller

Showing 8 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
Klipsch Heresy III.


wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
My new Heresys go REAL LOUD with my massive 12 watts per side SEP, and my REL subs had to be readjusted as they get less input from the amp due to the higher sensitivity speakers (a lot less it seems). I've readjusted.
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
I understand how tube amps distort (and I like it), and the amp isn’t working nearly as hard when driving the Heresy speakers so I can only assume there’s less distortion than previously (my Silverline Preludes are supposedly 91db but I think they’re less than stated), although I can hear immediately when the amp gets too greasy. In the volume range I’m generally using it’s unstressed…and by loud I suppose I mean loud enough! Regarding refinement, nuance, etc., the Heresy speakers are very musical and coherant…the titanium drivers are smooth and revealing and not bright or fatiguing…the Preludes are also great with the single ended amp but the efficiency of the horns in the Heresy design seem to let the amp sing with less effort (maybe I already said that). Heres a thing: The Heresy speakers came with an offer for free vinyl (there's a sticker on the side of the Klipsch boxes that I sort of forgot about initially)…so for 3 bucks each to cover shipping (one per speaker!) they sent me two 10" 33 1/3 reproductions of early mono vinyl from 1953…and both, a Monk and a Miles, sound astonishingly good…from a company called "The Sound of Vinyl" tied in with the Capitol Records edition of the speakers I wound up with...yeah man…I'm now the old dude with tube amps and horn speakers (we all knew that guy, right?).
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
I would think some Klipsch dealer in Chicagoland (there must be somebody) would be glad to hook your amp up to a pair of Heresy IIIs for you. Pack that sucker up and get out there!
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
Also, the fact that I auditioned Heresy IIIs in a shop but bought them elsewhere (Ebay) has interesting ethical baggage. I generally abandon that baggage in the overhead compartment in my brain (if it fits), but also like to point out that the "audio salons" around here sell everything at list price, and no pricing wiggle room is implied…that said, I like my money and prefer to keep as much in my pocket as possible, and although the dealer offered a deal that was below list for a pair of Heresys, the deal from Ebay was a THOUSAND BUCKS below list (although they sent me a higher list price "Capitol Edition" for the same cost as the regular black speakers I thought I was getting, so there’s that.). New with factory warranty. Guitar Center (sort of a musician’s necessary evil) had a thing where if you find whatever you’re considering buoying from them on the internet or anywhere else that’s cheaper, they’ll match the price (not sure if they still do this) thus they get something out of you! They had a dedicated computer in the store to facilitate this. It’s not that I expect "audio salons" to do that, but they should tell you to contact them if you get a better deal so they can counter it…if they got close at all I’d go local, but they don’t care and consequently, neither do I.
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
Byang12…are you warning us about Atmasphere? I have to thank you for that as I've been enjoying his thoughtful and well stated comments for a while now, and had no idea about about when he "he declares (!) single ended amp has high ODD order distortion" as I sort of think he's never said that. But hey…we've now been warned in case he does! Good job.
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
I certainly wouldn't recommend the Heresy IIIs without subs as even with putting them on the floor with their angled risers (as I do, although they're maybe 1.5" taller on the blocks I use). Maybe if stuffed into a corner, but that causes more of an imagined low end and these things ain't there below maybe 60hz. Kind of like a PA speaker. Zu is a speaker I had been considering before hearing the Heresys but around here it's "no Zu for you" as I'd have to go to a show or risk buying without hearing, a thing I no longer do. Note that I listen to these things around 9 or 10 feet away (Speaker to my cranium measurement) and they do display a nice soundstage that does't appear to be coming from the floor, so with these the angled bases seem to work well. The horns don't beam to any degree that is noticeable, and I'm surprised by that as I've had non horn speakers beam much worse. 
wolf_garcia
6,635 posts
 
I now have my Heresy IIIs on the floor with no support blocks, and am using Vibrapods under the corners of the supplied tilt back risers with felt pads applied to the bottom of the pods so the speakers can easily be moved around a little on my suspended wood floor. This works really well. As stated previously, I eschew (never "chew" spikes, but it’s OK to "eschew" them) spikes with speakers since I’ve become a "decoupler." I also liberated my larger sub to the right of my rig so I now can move that around also as sort of an "instant room tuning" thing. My smaller sub is set in a small corner formed by a fireplace directly behind the left speaker. For room tuning I always listen while wearing a gigantic grizzly bear suit.
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