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Tube-Friendly Less Than or Equal to 2k

Greetings all!

I'm in the market to replace a pair of Rega R1 bookshelf speakers.

I have a PrimaLuna Prologue 2 so the new speakers must be tube friendly. Stand mounted or floor standers are both OK. Willing to spend up to 2k. I'm an all vinyl guy. I like to listen to rockin' stuff like King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and the Mars Volta at appropriately loud-ish volumes, but I play a ton of jazz records too and would like those to sound more than nice as well. Guess that means I'm looking for an all 'rounder. I prefer warmth and musicality to details. Dali Ikon 6, Quad 12 and 21L are what's floating around in my brain right now. I'd love some other opinions from listeners with similar tastes and situations and WHY you recommend the speakers you do. Many thanks!
tubehead21
saki70
853 posts
 
I have to second the Reference 3a suggestion . I am driving a pair of De Capo i's with my Prologue 2 and really enjoy classic rock , blues and standards .

They are fairly well resolving speakers that will allow you to hear what is upstream without walking all over the music . They will give you bass that you can feel and still provide smooth airy highs . Again , if your upstream components and music provide it . Quite a few of my less than stellar cd's sound better here than with other setups that I have had .

Definitly try rolling some input tubes , if you haven't already . Upscale's suggestion gave me an overall warmer presentation with better bass while retaining the terrific highs of the stock setup .

Good luck .
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
i sound like a parrot, but the castle harlech(being sold out at under cost) from mayaudio.com is the steal of a lifetime. 1050....and it will hold its own with any 5k speaker i've ever heard. heirloom quality too.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
A word of caution about the Castle speakers from May Audio. I bought some Howard II speakers that had bad (deteriorated) woofers. Two replacement woofers were also bad.

The service from May Audio was exemplary, and I really liked the sound of the speakers, but the tenuous quality of the old drivers made the speakers a no-go.

Again, my comments are related to the Howard II, not the Harlech model.
tubehead21 OP
23 posts
 
The Reference 3A options look enticing. Thanks for the ideas, all!

Saki, I've rolled out all the stock tubes. I got a set from Upscale. Running SED 6550s, Groove Tubes in the ax7 spot, and the Mullard CV4003 in the au7. I've really been enjoying the warmer tone. They're still getting better as the hours add up.
robr45's avatar
robr45
317 posts
 
Back to your initial question- I can tell you that the 21l makes more sense than than 12l. It gives up almost nothing-and plays louder and lower. What you would spend on good stands will pay for the upgrade. These are definitely all around perfomers.The 21l and 21l2 sound almost exactly the same FWIW. Not much changed.

-Rob
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