A list of efficient speakers at ~$5K a pair.

Hey @mesch is there anything else about the next pair of speakers you'd like to try or venture into that you've not tried prior?  i.e. baffle size, driver configuration, etc. 

For example one of our members here has demoed (narrow baffle) small bookshelf (2-way) and then ventured in to floor stander (3-way) speakers, also owns the Fritz. I walked through some the journey with him. During that journey, I also suggested trying wider front (wide baffle) speakers next for a different type of sound with his next set of slightly more efficient speakers. This is in progress now.  Maybe he'll chime in later on down the road. 

For example, with the builds I've done,  spent quite a bit of time with 2-ways with TW, various tweeter and woofer types. I then decided a few decades ago I kinda liked the sound of WTW, or some refer to it as MTM configuration. I position the tweeter (AMT or Ribbon) at ear level in my seated position. This might be more suitable for lower efficiency speakers and listening preferences. For example, my current custom speakers are 92.5 6ohm in MTM driver configuration. Sometimes MTM can be too much of a good thing for some people's listening preferences yet I tend to be a low-midrange freak so I love this with tube amps.  Will stop there. Best of luck.  

@elliottbnewcombjr yeah that is the opposite direction, the Sanders 10E site shows they like to pair them up with a powerhouse 500w-900w Magtec Class AB amplifier.

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Other:

My local dealer has Soundlabspeakers, and I’ve heard the Majestic 545px 8ohm speakers driven with my same Quicksilver 60-100wpc tube amps and they sound glorious too. Lower efficiency and 8ohms, yet the tube amps do okay with them fwiw. https://www.soundlabspeakers.com/majestic/

Actually he’s had the super large 945 units there and drove them with my same QS Mono 120 tube amps without issue, with the higher 8ohm impedance. I like the size of the shorter 545s with wider front size.

Would the OP go for these, who knows ;). Neither of these are "efficient" though, not even close. Not efficient. Tube amp capable, maybe

Mesch, received your note. Agon wont let me reply back without a CC which I wont do, as I don’t trust the security here after experiencing basic site errors I see periodically... Can’t complain for a no-cost site yet not sure I’ll keep my PII or CC info here, and I work in related industry fwiw.

SET / softer sound?

If you are looking for the softer sound by looking at SET amps, as you may know, you can also try speakers with different high / mid frequency drivers too fwiw.

For example, you can chat offline with member @hilde45, I heard his Ascend at his place, and he has the new V2s, 91db, 8ohm impedance. They are great with lower power 20-60w amps too, depending on room and listening distance. The freq response does not seem to drop below 5ohms, pretty flat, and for the $, I gotta say I cannot attempt to design, parts source, cabinets. and build a pair close to this for the $. I spoke to the owner of Ascend, I like how he thinks and makes incremental progress tweaks. Hilde’s also tested both pairs of Fritz with metal and soft domes too. Worth chatting with hilde oflfline, he’s been offline a while but still around.

You might also consider those new Ascend Sierras too at $3895/pair. For the $ I think they handily compete with some other speakers up to 2x the price. I recently went over to a friends house who bought my last pair of my custom speakers built for myself. They were designed to accomodate alloy or soft dome tweeters. He asked me to come over and swap from the aluminum back to the soft dome tweeters. We listened and compared and the tone and texture was nice with the soft domes. I modeled these after the older 2007 Proac Response 3s that were 8ohm with soft domes, lower 89db MTM configuration that I like most- and while efficiency is lower, still tube friendly like the Ascend Sierrra IIs are. I only bring this up because he’s played around quite bit with Fritz musical speakers too fwiw.

https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series/products/sierra-tower-v2-pair?variant=40599146725430

Those speakers from Aric are function-first speakers from what I see, and its possible bright lighting in the product photos could be a little more complimentary.

Agree with @immatthewj if they sound great with how the drivers are configured now, and the looks really bother you or a spouse hates them - someone could make a set -or- ask Aric about providing some magnetic grill covers for them, maybe. Just pull them off for those who get ocd about grillecovers on while listening. I’d rather have the driver configuration that sounds the best over looks as a first priority.