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


I'm looking for speaker recommendations that play down to 30Hz. Able to be fully driven without compromise by tube amplification with as little as 15wpc.

$3000 new or used.

16x19 room. Rock, jazz and classical.

Reasonably small footprint (Klipsch K-Horns and LaScalas are too large).

I have eliminated Zu Druid and Tones from contention. All other options are open.

Thanks in advance.
tvad
Hi Tvad,

Well you like to push the envelope, don't you! Given that I'm sure you've done quite a bit of investigation on your own, you've probably found that what you're looking for is a fairly tall order.

Chances are I don't have anything that would meet all of your requirements, but let me toss out some ideas of what sort of characteristics you might look for.

First, in order to get deep bass in a small-footprint box yet retain high enough efficiency to work with a 15 watt tube amp, you'll have to cheat.

Two ways to cheat here: Corner loading, and using a powered woofer section. Either one will enable you to get a lot of bass from a fairly small-footprint enclosure, and might meet your 30 Hz target.

If my feeble memory serves me, you heard a speaker of mine with a built-in powered woofer section at the VTV show in Pasadena last November. The upper range drivers on that speaker present a roughly 16 ohm load at 93 dB efficiency. I had to redesign the woofer section when my woofer supplier discontinued the model I was using, and I'm pretty much abandoning that project as the parts cost have gone up to too much for me to be confident that the speaker is competitive in its new higher price range.

If you opt for placing the speaker in or near the corner, a reflex enclosure would be my choice over a sealed one. At first glance that seems counter-intuitive, but if you tune the reflex enclosure lower by increasing the vent length, it will probably work well in the corner. If you can't change the tuning, then any speaker not designed for corner placement will sound way too boomy when placed in the corner.

Another consideration is midrange coloration from corner placement. Basically, the walls of the room will act like a big 90 degree horn, and redirect side lobe energy forward toward the listening position, altering the tonal balance. A speaker with a uniform radiation pattern largely confined to a 90 degree forward arc would have a much better chance of not being colored in the midrange by corner placement.

Could you live with a roughly 15" by 15" footprint? If so, I might have something under development that could be tuned to work well in a corner and thereby meet your requirements.

Best of luck to you in your quest!

Duke

"If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough" - Gene LeBelle
I pretty much agree with Duke...except I think your room may be to wide for corner placement.

"fully driven without compromise by tube amplification with as little as 15wpc"...30hz? and fairly small foot print?...HeHeHe, I'm going to follow this thread.

Interesting, you may need a sub...check out horn loaded designs if you go with a small horn loaded floorstander.

http://www.decware.com/WO32/wo32.htm

Dave
If I had that situation, Id be listening to the Tyler's or Legacy Focus 20/20.( I know, both are more than the $3K) What amps are you using?
You mentioned Klipsch. I have a pair of Klipsch Epics CF3's. They have a footprint of 41"x 17"x 17", are 100dB efficient, and use neodyium magnet 10" drivers with a big ole' horn in between. Their specs state flat to 35hz, though they easily go down into the twenties range in my room. When I played a bass tone test CD with them, you can feel the bass output, before you can hear it. They go Deep! I use both an Antique sound labs 5 watt SET amp and the 6 watt Sonic T super amp and also my 200 watt per side Rotel to great effect. They play effortlessy and will slam you when desired, and have impactful bass even at low volume. Their only drawback besides their size is that they are way under your price range. Enjoy the search
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I appreciate the input.

Small footprint is misleading. My present loudspeakers have a 22"x13" footprint. Round about that size or smaller is fine.

Powered subwoofers in each tower are probably OK. A two-box solution versus two+subwoofer is mandatory.

Corner placement is not favorable.

At the moment Silverline and Coincident are likely the best matches. I'll investigate the Klipsch line further...Klipsch RF-7 (32Hz, 102db, 8 ohms, 16'x12' footprint, $3400)?

At 4 ohm nominal, the Tyler acoustics impedance spec is lower than I'd prefer. If I'm going to switch to speakers friendly to low power, I don't want to be restricted as far as amplifier choices.

No amp is yet chosen, but it will likely be a low-powered tubed integrated...think Easter Electric M520, Almarro 318A, Wright Sound WIA1515, PrimaLuna Prologue 2...or similar.