Tube Friendly Speakers - Down to 30Hz - $3000?

Thanks for the recommendation, Spencer. Was great to see you Sunday! Glad you were able to get out and play.

Grant, I think Spencer's (Sbank) feelings are correct. The Coincidents are a bit tipped up; definitely on the lively, as opposed to dark, side. The biggest factor that will play into this, in my opinion, is the room and the partnering amplifier. In my smaller room, where Spencer heard them, I couldn't get past the harshness in the system caused mostly by the room, but the speakers and partnering amplifier deserve a good deal of the credit/blame. I had to get the speakers into a different room to find happiness.

And, for what it's worth, though I highly respect corner placement, to my ears, it causes more and worse problems than it solves. Imaging among them, but I find exceptional bass comes from pulling speakers OUT from the walls.

Here are my general feelings in regards to Coincidents after having lived with them for 9 years now...
1) Like just about all speakers, their performance is far from being maximized by the designer. You can get a lot more out of them if you aren't afraid to get your hands into them.

2) As previously mentioned, their specs are wildly optimistic. This has been discussed time and again. Hard to get 3 - 5 dB more sensitivity out of speaker than what the drivers produce; darned laws of physics! That being said, excluding the larger drivers producing the lows, it is very true they are an easier load than most of what is on the marketplace. Much easier, in fact.

3) Getting 30 Hz requires larger speakers and cone area, and you are going towards that in your choices. Bigger cones need power. I don't care what anyone says, there's no getting around that. Coincidents are no different than any speaker in this regard, including Silverline - they both source their drivers from the same companies as everyone else.

4) Coincidents sound best with tranformer coupled tube amplifiers, of at least moderate power. Note my use of the word "best". That doesn't mean you can't run them on low or OTL power, because many do. It also doesn't mean you can't get good sound doing so, because many do. I just feel the speakers sound their best with amplification having some iron and some power. With 15 wpc, you can drive, and drive them loudly. Just don't expect to have the bass response they'll produce with a more muscular amp because they can't. Apart from speakers with a powered woofer section, I don't see products capable of this feat.

5) Larger Coincidents, need bigger rooms to breathe. Though, my rationale for saying this is not because of what most people follow - low frequency coupling to the room. It's because of what Spencer said, Coincidents are a bit tipped up. In smaller rooms, the presence region, which can become bright or shrill, is reinforced by smaller room boundaries (especially where two intersecting walls and the ceiling meet). I think most speakers of today suffer this affliction, due to their impedance curve and the fact that their being used with tube amplification (the way the amp reacts to that impedance curve). 16' X 19' is getting there for sure.

In short, I personally think Coincidents are excellent speakers, and are more than worthy of consideration for this task. I'm also a fan of the Silverlines and Tetras, though I'm not sure how sensitive the Tetras are. Heard great things regarding the Reimers, but I've never heard the speakers.

Grant, I have personally tried the Autoformers in my system. Used them with the Coincidents, on my Atma Sphere M60s. Three of us were using them at the same time, one of the people being a person who was widely featured on the site. A member of my audio group tried them later in his system.

As I was given my pair, my idol who was also given a pair to try announced, "I am adamant about the need for a transfomer in the amplifier - loudspeaker chain." Imagine how sheepish I felt as we convened two weeks later, with me having to say, "I'm sorry, they simply didn't work for me. The autoformers utterly destroyed the sound."

In the end, the conclusion of the four of us is that the Autoformers will NEVER be in our systems ever again. They simply rob all of the beauty and magic from the music. I see many on the audio sites recommending them as solutions all the time. Even if I don't participate in a particular thread, my answer is, you need to either buy a more sympathetic loudspeaker (often the best solution) or a more powerful amplifier.

All this being the case, I know of no one outside of Atma Sphere who has done more for the mark than Paul Speltz. He is a creative genius, as well as a seemingly fantastic and generous individual. I hope to one day try the Anti -Cables. I simply feel the Autoformers are a fantastic idea that somehow doesn't work for the die hard music lover/audiophile.