Admittedly a bit lost


Folks

I am a long time music lover who is dipping his toes into high end audio for the first time. I have long enjoyed high quality headphones (Sennheiser HD650) and earphones (Etymotics all the time) but have not spent the big bucks (that I don't have) for high-end equipment. :)

However, I have recently acquired a Jolida tube amp (40W output) and am looking for good speakers to pair with them. I intend to go around listening to a bunch of speakers but I need to at least narrow down what sort I should ask my local dealers to have available for me to try. That is what this thread is about.

My constraints are thus:
- My musical tastes run the gamut from classical choral pieces (Bach's cantatas and mass, Arvo Part, Hilliard Ensemble's works etc - i.e. all mid-range frequencies) to experimental electronic music (Autechre, Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus etc - i.e. deep sub-bass and full-frequency spread music with absolutely zero traditional instruments and every sound is synthesized).
- My amp is a 40W tube amp
- I live in an apartment and so listen at volumes ranging from low to moderate.
- My budget for speakers is about $3K (slightly flexible).

With those constraints, my dilemma is that I don't know if I should be trying out high-efficiency speakers or low-efficiency ones? Should I look for 8ohm speakers or 4ohm ones? Something tells me that with low power tube amps, I should be looking at a high efficiency low impedence speaker. However, will that sort of speaker be able to navigate the high speed bass attack of electronic music when driven by an amplifier such as mine?

I am not sure where to begin, so I would really like some advise from folks here. Thank you so much!
badri
@Zd542 Ah - I suspected that might be the case and was surprised that no one mentioned it. While I am not looking to replace my amp right now, when I get around to it, should I even look at tubes or should I switch to solid-state?
@Jazzman463 Thank you for that. I think the limited power I have from my amp might not be enough for electrostatic speakers - which I have heard are power hungry beasts. So I kind of eliminated the Maggies from my consideration.

At this point, I am thinking of the Focal Aria, Triangle Antal EZ, PSB T2, Totem Arro, Sonus Faber Venere, KEF R700, Golden Ear Triton & Revel Performa F30.

I would like to try the Proac recommended on this thread, but the price of new ones is out of my budget.

In addition, I would like to try out some Dynaudio & Dali speakers, but I have no idea which ones I should even try out. Yet. Fun times :)
"11-13-15: Badri
@Zd542 Ah - I suspected that might be the case and was surprised that no one mentioned it. While I am not looking to replace my amp right now, when I get around to it, should I even look at tubes or should I switch to solid-state?"

There's no way that I, or anyone else, can tell you what to do. And its not because we don't want to, we just can't. The best I can tell you for sure, is that audio is a very hands on hobby. Most people don't realize this when they first get involved. Its not about reading reviews and ordering equipment. If you want good sound, you have to go after it. Demo as much gear as you can, even if you think you won't like it. The more listening you do, the better you get. You'll end up making your fair share of mistakes, but we all do, and that's just the way it goes. If you want to succeed, active participation is a must.
Badri wrote: "What kind of setup do you have, if you don't mind my asking?"

My setup changes a lot because I'm a speaker designer. I have several different amps that I use, depending on what type of speaker I'm working on, and what I want to check. For instance at the moment I'm working on a roughly 90 dB efficient tube-friendly speaker, but right now it's hooked up to a solid-state integrated amp because, among other things, I want to make sure I'm happy with the sound on both types of amps.

The speaker system that my wife had me designate as "ours" consists of a pair of tube-friendly, upper-90's efficient "satellites" and four small subwoofers. But that complete system hasn't actually been hooked up for a while because I've been doing product development.

Duke
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