Speakers that are good with tubes

@bigkidz 

Out 40wpc mono blocks drove the YG Acoustic Carmel speakers with ease and outperformed the $16K Class D amps no contest.

I do not doubt your outcome. I’m a very firm believer in the sonic attributes of high quality class A amplifiers. Not to everyone’s approval these days given the “Green” mindset prevalent in these times. I suspect that your class A tube amplifier sounds fantastic!

Charles

@hilde45 

To be clear, I agree with you on the importance of capable high quality output transformers. Equally important is the amplifier power supply robustness and quality. The OP is a bit vague and general. I believe posters are just trying to abide and explain what parameters determine speaker “friendly to tube amplifiers “.

Charles 

Yes, transformers are key to tube amp performance but now you are getting into tube amp selection.  The original question was about speaker selection

Correct.

Charles

@bigkidz

So making general statements means very little unless you have the experience and knowledge in the specific area

So who’s doing this ? People have rightly posted that speaker impedance and phase angle characteristics are factors that require awareness and consideration. This is true as they greatly influence how successfully a tube amplifier will pair with them.

No one has disputed that there are tube amplifiers capable of managing difficult/challenging speaker loads. However, the question of the OP was what makes a given speaker “tube friendly “. People have responded in kind.

Charles

@carlsbad

I listen at 1/4 to 1/2 watt per channel 98.44% of the time and most people listen below 1 watt when using sensitive speakers.

Good point , the wonderful and noteworthy aspect of easily driven tube friendly speakers. I agree with @hilde45 that the speaker impedance (Ohm load) and curve characteristics are equally if not more important than the sensitivity measurement in isolation.

Amplifiers work less hard driving higher load impedance speakers that demand much less current draw. The flatter the impedance curve, the easier it will be to drive.
My speakers are rated at 94 db sensitivity and 14 ohm nominal impedance (Minimum 10 ohm). My listening position is 10 feet away. At listening levels typically in the 70s db C-weighted I’m using less than 1/10 of a watt.

Charles