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

Reagarding amps Tvad,

I heartily suggest you choose the Almarro A318B over the A318A. I've owned both and there is no competition between the two. The "A" has noticeably rooled off highs in comparison and lacks the resulting clarity and air of the "B". I also felt the bass was significantly better with the "B".

BTW, both amps do far better(at elast in my home) with 90-94dB speakers than 97dB.The higher efficiency speakers seem to not allow the amps enough output to get into their preferred working range before things got too loud. As a result, the sound was never really as fleshed out and rich as with 90dB/4ohm speakers. The lower-eff speakers turned out to be a glorious match with the amps, though.

The A318B is a fantastic amp if you are looking for accurate amplification. It was far moe "literal" than my much more expensive 300B monoblocks and PX-25 amps. Not dry or colorless, just very accurate without embellishment.

The Reimers are front ported so placement within a few feet of the wall is not a problem. One of the postings above mentioned that deep bass and low wattage was not meant to be. I suppose that it would depend on the amp I am continuously suprised at the quality bass I get with the 18 watts Lamms and the Tetons. This seems to be the hardest thing for a speaker to get right and IMHO the Tetons nail this. There may be speakers out there that project a different soundstage or provide slightly more resolution but most all of them sacrifice in the low end. I have thought of upgrading from the Tetons but I do not want to sacrifice the deep, tight, integrated bass and so far have not heard a speaker that comes close without costing three times the price.

The JM Reynaud line would be worth looking into.

They are all right around 90dB and have flat impedance curves that hover around 4 ohms.

I drive my Offrandes with 13 wpc to satisfactory levels.
Offrandes and above are also rated to 30hz, although when I had mine measured once they were -6dB down at 30hz and 0dB down at 35hz.

Used these would fit the bill or move up to Concordes

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. There are some excellent ideas here.

Tvad, I did some modelling and what you are looking for (89 dB efficient, -3 dB at 30 Hz without significant reinforcement from nearby walls, fairly small footprint) is definitely possible. An 89 dB efficient woofer in a 3 cubic foot enclosure will give you honest extension to 30 Hz.

Note that marketing department claims can and often do wax a bit optimistic, but the basic tradeoffs of box size vs efficiency vs bass extension that the engineers work with are pretty consistent, at least in this quadrant of the galaxy. An overly optimistic claim doesn't mean that the engineering is suspect; only that the marketing department's claims aren't reliable. I can think of a manufacturer who exaggerates bass exension claims by almost a whole octave, yet in my opinion builds some very competitive speakers despite their (imho) questionable marketing approach.

Duke