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Tube amp Friendly Speaker That Sounds like Klipsch Cornwall

Hi All, 

I am shopping for a tube friendly speaker after a long time with Magnepan 3.6's and then Thiel CS5i's.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with a broken-in pair of Klipsch Cornwall 4's. These were in a dedicated dealer space with corner bass traps and some treble absorption. They were driven by an all McIntosh setup (7200 Receiver and T500 CD player).

The Cornwalls were dynamic, and I loved the palpable sound of the 15 inch woofer. Loud rock in roll was great with them. However, I was less impressed at lower volume levels and finally decided they were not very detailed and a bit too much in my face, at least in that setup.

When I left that room, I wandered over to where some Magnepan 1.7i's were playing in a casually set up open space. I thought the Maggies were much more resolving than the Cornwalls and a lot more laid back.

Any suggestions on a tube friendly speaker with good sized woofers that is dynamic but with good weight and detail to the sound?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper
dsper

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,608 posts
 
I'm guessing budget plays a role?
I run a pair of Classic Audio Loudspeakers model T-3. 16 ohms, response to 20Hz, 98dB 1 watt/1 meter. 60 watts is plenty of power on them in most rooms!

You might consider another alternative though. If you were to get a set of Audiokinesis Swarm subs to handle the bass, your main speaker would then only need to get down to 60Hz or so. There are plenty of speakers that are easy to drive with 60 watts that would then do the trick- a set of Devore O96s for example, Klipsch RM51s or Tannoy Eatons. You might also contact Duke at Audiokinesis as his speaker designs have always been easy to drive and tube-friendly.  
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