Heard some Coincident speakers with an SET 211 setup and really liked them. Bought the amps. The speakers at that time were not available.
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I'll second Coincidents - I use Super Eclipse III's which worked great with my 300B SET amps. Their newer speakers are very positively reviewed in the recent TAS (Victory line) are in your price bracket. The woofers are not "powered" though - if you were looking for that you'd have to go the route of a sub. Another really great candidate, although I think they exceed your budget and rarely come up on the used market, are Classic Audio Speakers.. I've never actually heard them paired with SET amps, but the Audiokinesis speaker line are fairly efficient and have sounded outstanding to my ears the two times I've heard them. Contact Duke to see how they may pair with your amps. Another outstanding candidate which I have heard paired with a 211 amp is Daedalus Speakers. |
The nice thing about Coincident speakers is that you don't need a powered sub. The bass of my Total Victory IV's is the best I've ever experienced, and I run the 8 watt Coincident Frankensteins! I'm glad I didn't run into you last year. I listed the speakers, thinking I could have some money to do things with the family; but at the last minute pulled the ad. Thank Heaven. I would NEVER have been able to get back to that point. Funny though, I sold off everything but the Coincident monos, speakers and Coincident speaker cables, and now my system is better than ever. I did have to sacrifice my digital front end, but I'm more of a vinyl guy anyway. As for the family? Well, I'll be around the house a lot, so perhaps we can bond between record sides. |
Zu, Klipsch, Coincident... All very different, Definitely very very different. I tried a pair of Zu Definitions in three different systems in my own home for a week and heard them again in two other friend's systems. Absolutely hated them, including with my SET amps. Klipsch from the Heritage line would be great, but the best versions of those are very large and require quite a bit of tweaking to sound their best (much direct experience there as well). Once honed in they can sound magical with SET - if you have the space to make them shine, and a bit of extra time and willingness/ability too, that's a brilliant combination if you don't mind the retro look. Coincidents are great right out of the box with nothing to do but proper positioning. I tried finding a conventional dynamic driver speaker that would satisfy me after years with the lightening fast horns on my Klipsch LaScalas (heavily modified). Coincident is where my search ended - not quite as quick as horns, but mighty close and certainly of the fastest dynamic speakers I've heard in the high-sensitivity realms. Disappear like monitors, and also do very will with SS if you choose to switch (at least the model I use does - not sure about the Victory line as the tweets are radically different). I so don't get why anyone would like Zu though, at least the Definitions...just my own experience with them. Bottom line - try to listen to some of the options yourself and see how they occur to your ears. |
Check with member, Tvad, on the Audio Note speakers. He just recently got a pair, I think. I don't know what amps he's using with them. He has plenty of experience to give you some perspective. I'm not sure how his taste in music crosses over with your own. Atmasphere OTL would be another great direction to go as far as amplification, IMO, and may offer more versatility than many SET options. Ralph's amps are outstanding. But it sounds like you are happy with your 211 monos (which I can understand having spent about six years with SET amps). I would make your upgrades with the utmost care at how your specific amps (or the ones you will buy) pair up with the speakers you buy. That link is critical. |
You are absolutely right. I love my SET amps. They are NAT Audio SE2se using two 211 in parallel. I have researched every possible audio site, read reviews and there are very few SET friendly spks available which fits my budget. The AN speakers are on top of my list and I might try the kit route. Fun assembling them. |
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Check KCS Loudspeakers website. I had John custom build me a speaker around your price range and it is the best I have heard in my home system. John can offer many options and the value is off the charts for what you get. Great speakers, world class. Give him a call and tell him what you are looking for. I have owned many speakers over the past 30 years these beat every major brand anywhere near its price range. |
Nakonawala, have a listen to the Avantgarde-Acoustic Uno G2. Hmmm, isn't that a $27K speaker? If you are getting into the realms of big German-horns don't miss Acapella for another price leap. In the two shows I've listened to both extensively I was consistently amazed by Acapella, whereas Avantgarde just didn't do it for me though the model Jtein suggests was not what I heard (I listened to the Trio and Duo models). In those cases I was far more impressed by the more modestly priced offerings from AudioKinesis and Daedalus that I've mentioned. That certainly could have been the room/systems they were each in. As we all know, those hotel show rooms leave a whole lot to be desired as far as being an agreeable acoustic space. Some systems seem to be far better at seemingly overcoming that obstacle than others, and Audiokinesis sattelite sub system was certainly among those. Two others that impressed me in that way, though not at all SET friendly (so not suggesting them to the OP), were Roger Sanders panel speakers, and those weird little toilet seat speakers that I almost entirely ignored because of their appearance...Gradient Helsinkis. Both of those seemed to completely defy the otherwise horrible rooms they were set up in, as did Duke's Audiokinesis offerings. Daedalus was in what looked to be a less challenging space, and also was a big standout for me. Anyway, I'm not suggesting you ignore the good suggestion above. Add Acapella to the list if you are going to start listening to speakers outside your budget and want to hear what great horns sound like. My own experience with horns suggests they are best with space around them to allow them to breath, and are very challenged by confined spaces. The Acapella model with a separate sub is the Triolon. I'm afraid it's also well beyond the stated budget of $8k. |
Yeah you're right Jax2, they are $27k. I heard them last week driven by Audionote Meishu SET amp (Class A 9wpc). The source was an Esoteric SA-60. The sound easily trumped my current set-up of Primare I30 amp/CD31 cdp/PMC FB1i. I haven't heard Acapella, Audiokinesis or Daedalus before but if they are available in my country, I'd definitely like to hear them. It's my first foray into horn speakers. But what I heard last week made me wanna take my whole CD collection to the dealer's place and listen to them one by one. So I thought the OP might wanna hear it too. |
Hi. I use silverline bolero with 2a3 push pull (not set, but less power than your 211 probably). lots of bass and fabulous highs. they have changed the newer models somewhat and suggest at least 10 watts (bolero supreme, not the new grand bolero which are big bucks). new they are out of the price range you suggested, but they come up used from time to time for about 4 ro 5K. i have bought most of my gear from an audio note dealer and can also say the audio note speakers are just plain musical (particularly if you have your corners available -- better but not necessary according to the dealer). i thought the silverlines had a bit more base. |