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

Tvad,

Thanks for the clarifications, including what size footprint is feasible.

An honest 30 Hz extension is still not easy to come by at three grand a pair, but if you can live with 35 Hz instead of 30 Hz extension you might consider looking for a pair of Altec Model 14's in good condition. Push 'em back flush against the wall and I bet they'd get pretty close to 30 Hz. Even up against today's speakers, the Model 14 is very competitive. If they were still in production I'd sell 'em.

Duke

I'm on a similar quest, though my SET is rated at 22watts. A list of what I am considering:
Reimer
Daedalus
Tyler(though Rick is it, at Tyler's says, go for Pro Dynamic line if you are in the low output amp area)
Silverline Sonata/Sonatina
Zu
Acoustic Zen Adagio
Art Emotion(UK speakers)
Coincident(a bit big for me)
Zingali
Then all the great Horn speakers, Horning, Cain and Cain etc, but again a bit too big and base not down to 30hz.
I heard the Art speakers recently, underwhelming for the price and am auditioning the Adagios on wednesday, I will report back
Also, look at www.welbornelabs.com Very good list of tube friendly speakers and good description of speaker amp matching, for terchnophobes like me

Duke, the footprint issue is really a matter of the appearance of the speakers...which is to say a footprint of 14"w x 22"d would be acceptable whereas a footprint of 22"w x 14"d would not. The 14" wide speakers look smaller, even though the footprint is the same. A 22" wide speaker would never be acceptable in our small 16' x 19' living room (speakers on the short dimension)...

David, the Welborne Labs speaker info page is excellent. Thank you for that link.

Would the Vandersteen 3A Signature need more power? Because I think you'd get your bass extension with them. Ugly, yes, but a great value because you are not paying for cabinet. There are also some ProAc models that will give you that extension, though again the low-power amp might not be ideal (I'm not sure). Coincident would have to be a contender, as many have said.

Hi Tvad,

Like Duke says that's a tall order to fill!

You might try looking into a used pair of Living Voice Avatar speaker. Bass extension in the upper 30s and fairly SET friendly but would prefer maybe 25 watts. For your room size you could get by with 15 watts.

Good Luck!*>)