Speakers for SET 8 Watt 300B system?


I currently have a pair Tonian Labs 12.1 classic speakers and looking to downsize to a smaller speaker footprint. Can be monitors / floor standers. Anyone out there tried other high efficiency speakers that work well with low powered SET amplifiers?
sm04

Showing 2 responses by brownsfan

I can tell you that a couple of months ago I bought a used pair of Coincident Triumph Extreme MK II monitors. They are 94 dB efficient, and designed to be driven by low powered SETs, like the Coincident Franks, 300b, 8WPC I believe. Now, I am currently driving these with 500 wpc mono blocks, because that is what I have. I am extremely impressed with these monitors. They are extremely coherent, very articulate, fast, and they have great timbral accuracy. Of all the speakers I have ever owned, these please me the most. They are just great, great, speakers. I'm using them in a 15.5' x 19' x 8 ' room, and they play effortlessly at fairly loud levels.
SM, Charles warning, as usual, is spot on. In my case, last fall I began bringing in monitors to use for a bedroom system. That permitted me to do a careful evaluation in my main rig, and permitted A/B comparison with my beloved Magnepan 3.7's. I was fortunate to have found a pair of monitors that not only satisfies my needs in a bedroom system, but has me very seriously considering using them in my main rig instead of the Maggies.
The Coincidents weren't the first monitors I brought in. I brought in another pair of very well respected monitors, which I thought would do just fine as something for a nice bedroom system. They are good, but not great. The bottom line here, is if you already have something you love, some caution is in order. Hold what you have, bring in some other candidates for A/B, live with them a while, and let the best speaker win. This approach requires patience, because it means you need to buy used, or your are going to burn through some serious cash.

Charles, yes, it is a strong endorsement of the Triumphs, but I suspect you are not as surprised as I was. I'm seeing a pair of franks in my future. Just really need to sell some stuff first. My living rooms got more equipment in it now than some showrooms I've seen. I may send you a pm later on regarding the WE tubes.