What speakers work with low wattage class A amps

I have a First Watt F5 clone, dual mono, with a Pass Korg NuTube preamp with not much gain. With my Fritz Rev7SEs I have no problems getting enough volume.

@arhgef 

What is make and model of the Class A amp and speakers that you demoed and liked?  It may help us to narrow your choices.

25 Watts “or less”

The lower the amp wattage, the more limiting choices of speakers.  There’s a big difference between what speakers will drive 25amps vs a flea watt amp such as 4watts.  I have a 300B 8watt amp which necessitates that I have a very sensitive  speaker - 100db Volti Rivals.

Do you care if the speakers are bookshelf of floorstanders?  Floorstanders generally yield much better bass.

Do you care if your speakers are neutral- it’s much harder to find in very high sensitivity speakers?  I do because I plan to swap out components and want as neutral a system as possible to evaluate the components so I chose Volt Rivals.  I’ve heard the lower model Volti Razz twice and it sounded fantastic.  Klipsch, while very musical, seemed significantly less neutral.

Speaker sonic preferences are subjective.  It’s always best to demo them yourself.

A budget for your amps and speakers would be very helpful in narrowing your choices.  I’m assuming you have the preamp and cables budgeted if needed.

Generally speaking, tube amps have a pleasing magical midrange (some may call it coloration), less extension on the frequency extremes (bass and treble) and are less dynamic than SS amps.  However, there are s a few SS amps that have this pleasing midrange designed seemingly designed to compete with tube amps such as First Watt, Krell, GaN-FET type amps like from AGD, Atma-Sphere, Peachtree.

 

Zu, Tannoy, JBL, Klipsch, Fyne..something with +90dB sensitivity

Not all models by the above brands may be high sensitivity but I believe that they all of them do produce some models that are. The all new Martin Logan "Motion" series are all +90dB and they appear to be significantly improved.

Speaker sensitivity 89 db and higher 

Reference3A DeCapoI.  No crossover electronics that waste power.  Just a high pass cap for the tweeter,  The Midwoofer is allowed to roll off naturally.

Relatively large cabinet for a stand speaker.  And the midwoofer also is relatively large.  Both characteristics combined yield excellent bass.

I drive my DeCapos with either a 25wpc OTL tube amp or a 35wpc Musical Fidelity Class A.

Sound magnificent, most musical I have ever heard except for ProAcs.  But the ProAcs need a lot of power and the DeCapos do not.

Altec-Lansing 604-8G drivers in a 620 9cf cabinet. Classic that will sound good with 25 watts or less.

The Harbeths as a group are very efficient and a favorite among the Harbeth users. I have 2 pair of p3 xd and 30.2 demo if you might be interested. Don

Daedalus

Daedalus Audio. 

I spent all day yesterday listening to my Fritz Carbon 7 SE speakers powered by a 3.2 watt Sayes 2a3 SET and that amp drove the Fritz’s beautifully

My DeVore O/93's work great with low wattage amps.

I have until recently had a pair of Living-Voice OBXRW speakers and have driven them with an 18WPC parallel 300-B tube amp, First-Watt SIT-2 and F8, and a Valvet E3 all of which sounded terrific and were easy to drive with their 93-db 6-ohm nominal impedance.  These are all flea-watt amps and each display their individual sonic signature but all sounded great.  Can't recommend them highly enough.  

After years of accepting the colorations of my 12 inch 96db full rangers, I just prototyped a pair of Bohlender Graebener 4 ohm satellites.

They have a nice flat 4 ohm impedance, which my old style class A can deliver 15 watts to per channel.

 

Not quite an open baffle, they are sized to act as a passive highpass augment and fit on stands, while an open baffle panel handles bass to 80 hertz with its own larger AB amplifier.

I'd try a pair of Atmasphere's Class D monos to see if he's right, but I guess that will involve buying them and sending 'em back if they don't satisfy my class A needs. Not likely to happen...I need to make friends with Ralph...who, by the way, is not only smart but really good looking...wonder if this is gonna work...

I have the First Watt SiT-3 with Klipsch Cornwall lV’s and this combination is my favorite over my Pass XA 25 and Golden Tube audio 300b…I put a 25 ohm resistor on the terminals of the Cornwalls… seemed to tighten things up just a touch. Sounds good!

I don’t know much the Heretics are, but I’d trust Herb’s ears. Bet they’d sound good with any of the amps listed above.

My 90 dB Chapman T7s work very well with my Pass Labs XA30.8.

@arhgef Wrote:

Maybe I should turn the question on its head and ask: What class A amp that is between 5K and 10K or so can drive speakers like the Celestion 700se. or Harbeth 30.2. I guess that is like asking what are some good higher watt Class A amps in that price range. I wonder if those two speakers are comparable, but I guess that is a question for another thread, comparing vintage to modern british speakers.

A Pass Labs XA25 amp will drive them.

Mike

@steveashe +1

 

I've used both 90dB/Watt and 86dB/Watt speakers with 15W amps perfectly well. Unless you want to destroy your hearing, you don't have to find ultra-sensitive speakers to enjoy low wattage amps.

Spatial Audio. Open baffle, 90+ dB sensitivity. I drive Spatial X5's with a Pass XA30.8 very easily.

Maybe I should turn the question on its head and ask: What class A amp that is between 5K and 10K or so can drive speakers like the Celestion 700se. or Harbeth 30.2.

Why do you want a class A amplifier? There are class D amps available now that sound as good as any class A amp....

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect nj

Borrenson and Legacy dealers"

"I would expect anyone who is a dealer to know how to spell and pronounce the name of the speakers they are selling. It is "Borresson". Your misspelling does not instill one with confidence."

I agree.  There's no way in hell that I'd bother with a "dealer" like that.   

The entire Klispch Heritage line and a subwoofer or two.  Most tube or tube sounding amps will tame any fear of horns you might have.

All the best.

As always I think amp-speaker matching should start with finding a speaker that locks in well with your room.

But if you want enjoy 2A3, 300B, and 845 SETs the Heretic line of speakers made in Montreal are guaranteed to work. 

 

And, of course, I've been using LS3/5a with SET 300Bs for 35 years.

So those are two non-horn recommendations.

 

enjoy the adventure

 

herb

What you can drive with 25 wpc depends a lot on how large a room you have, how close to the speakers your listening chair is located, how load you play your system, and how much you are willing to compromise on sound quality during the very brief moments that you actually use close to the 25 available watts.  I personally value high quality sound at relatively low volume levels, and I find that high quality low-powered amps tend to be better at lower volume levels than even ultra-expensive high powered amps.  

Still, with only 25 wpc or so, it would pay to emphasize higher efficiency speakers.  Among the very best high efficiency speakers I've heard are the Charney Audio Companion line of speakers.  These come with different choices of driver (all are good but I particularly like the AER driver).  I like the Fyne Audio line of coaxial speakers and they are quite efficient.  The Audio Note line of speakers are also quite good with this level of power.  Devore Orangutan speakers are also fairly easy to drive.

It has been a long while since I heard the 700se, but I am quite familiar with the 30.2 speakers.  I know Harbeth recommends high-powered amps for their speakers, but, I really like them with modestly powered tube amps.  I particularly like them with the Synthesis A40 amp (40 wpc, two KT66 power tubes per channel, integrated amp with a terrific built-in DAC).

The Klipsch Heresy IV is the best LIVE sounding speaker that 3K will buy. The soundstage goes wall to wall and I run them with a 2.5 watt Decware amp OR a 400 Watt Gan Peachtree amp.. They sound fantastic with both. Also Tekton Pendragon w/ 7 tweeter array sound wonderful.

FWIW

this month's Stereophile has a review of the Heresey speakers, which are super efficient. The reviewer used a couple flea 2-3 watt amps then used a Parasound 21+ (400wpc@ 8 ohms) which had more balls and sounded more organic

 

I would think very reasonably priced GaN amps (by comparison to class A) are worth investigating

I'll second @akg_ca

The de Capos are great speakers, I have the earlier de Capo i in red maple

 

Tannoy

Get yourself a pair of full range speakers from Lii Song audio and put them in a baffle board, the Decware/Caintuck speakers are a good model, wide-open, no back or, sides, and no crossover. They don’t do super loud, but there is some kind of magic there.

My personal experience: I've driven a pair of Dynaudio Heritage Specials and a pair of Sonus Faber Maxima Auditors with a Sugden A21SE with the volume at 9 o'clock with no issues at all; that said, there is also a REM subwoofer in the system. The space is 13x20x10. I'm not interested in head-banging volumes, but I believe there is plenty of room to do so. I've also had comparable results using a PrimaLuna evo 400 and Rogue Cronus Magnum.   I'm going to climb out on a limb and say that wattage, like horsepower, is conditionally relevant. From there I'll leave it to the engineers to thrash out. Best wishes.

Speakers are very subjective.  That said, one thing I did discover which was quite a revelation, is that a Horn/Dynamic combo design puts me in the Goldilocks Zone.  Phase issues, upper midrange tonality and dynamic contrast all improved.  

Maybe I should turn the question on its head and ask: What class A amp that is between 5K and 10K or so can drive speakers like the Celestion 700se. or Harbeth 30.2. I guess that is like asking what are some good higher watt Class A amps in that price range. I wonder if those two speakers are comparable, but I guess that is a question for another thread, comparing vintage to modern british speakers.

 

@audiotroy The Børresen X3 is designed to really only be used with 300 watt Aavik electronics and Ansuz cables!!! If you put anything on them they will not have synergy.

Wolf Von Langa WVL 12639 SON is amazing in tubes and goes down in the 20’s with bass.

WATT/Puppy 5.1 (93dB/W/m) driven with only 2x30W A Class Pioneer M-22. This combo sounds so good. A Class makes this speakers sounding addictive. 👌👍🏻

Here’s my little demo.

http://youtu.be/admxhBXuWd0

@arhgef  For similar reasons I have been trying a Pass Labs INT-25 (our class A) with my Marten Parker Trio (91dB at 6ohm) the last week. The match is good although some more power would fill the speakers more. 

 

"

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect nj

Borrenson and Legacy dealers"

I would expect anyone who is a dealer to know how to spell and pronounce the name of the speakers they are selling. It is "Borresson". Your misspelling does not instil one with confidence.

Some Focal, Tannoy, Zu Audio, Fritz, Klipsch, all 90 DB or better

Thanks everyone! An enormous number of suggestions to research and hopefully hear. My tastes seem to run to the “British sound”. I have Celestion 700se and 6si that I like a lot. Have had a really tough time using my B and W 803 matrix series 2. Harsh except with McIntosh (only local amp I could audition). Decided to make the leap for both new speakers and amp. Heard the Parasound JC 5 and was amazed at the difference between its class A versus AB output, into all those speakers. Decided to try for class A amp. My preamp is ARC LS25 II. The trouble has been upper end harshness on the B and W and even on the Celestion with JC5 in AB. Trying room treatment now. Fine with stand speakers plus sub. Too much detail? In any case thanks for all the great suggestions. 

I have some Fritz Carrera BEs and they sound remarkable with a 25 watt Class A First Watt M2 amp

Depends on how loud you like your music really. My Dunlavy SM-1s are around 90. My pass Labs X-150.5 is biased on the high end 50 deg C in winter and does about 35 watts before the needle moves. If the room is cooler then I can get some more A. I'm of the mind to design my system around speakers though.. always have been. That's where the rubber meets the road iny personal experience. But Class A to me is oh just so beautiful, detailed, accurate with perfect soundstage. For my speakers which honor phase and time coherence. The combination is sublime really.

Nola , fritz, snell , focal 1008 , klipsch heresy , any of above with above 90db will do but will depend on your taste lol

Klipsch Heritage Series 

Hello ahrgef!  High effeciency speakers are excellent choices for low watt amps. Zu Audio makes several models. Many DIY designs are very efficient ad inexpensive to build. You can build a pair of 110 db sensivity speakers for under $500. Look for high speaker impedence as a clue. 16 ohm speakers are usually high efficiency. It's "old school" from an era when talking movies were new and all amps were 20 watts or less. A speaker that requires a "high current" amp is usually low impedence and not very efficient (sub 85 db sensitivity). Magnepan speakers are a good example. I have a pair of LRS currently, will order a new pair of LRS+ soon, and have owned two other models (MGII, 1,7i) in the past. Wonderful sound, but needs an amp that can "push."  My 9 wpc 300B tube amp coaxes wonderful sound from some DIY 110 db sensitive speakers. There is very little difference in the sound of those two systems. Happy Listening!

borrenson x3 11k based on the same driver technology on borrensons  reference  z series 90db efficient  very narrow elegant incredibile resolution deep bass for a narrow design

 

legacy signatures 9k 93 db efficient very deep bass plays very loud

 

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect nj

Borrenson and Legacy dealers

A FirstWatt F8 amplifier (by Nelson Pass) drives my Focal Aria 906's just fine, even though the speakers are rated at only 89.5 dB sensitivity. So does a Quicksilver integrated amp. The listening room is moderate size, not a big bare box.

The F8 uses FET transistors that Pass favors. The Quicksilver is a tube amp.

 

Vandersteen model sevens with a 28wpc set amplifier happy listening 

+1 Coincident Technology and Reference 3a if you don’t want horns, Klipsch, etc.