best 5-20K speakers for high-end tube amp?

Hi No Slouch,

I'll second Ralph Karsten's recommendation of Classic Audio Reproductions speakers. You might try e-mailing them; I seem to recall their having a dealer in Hong Kong once upon a time.

http://www.classicaudiorepro.com/

If you like the Wilson WP sound then a Von Schweikert VR-4JR will give you the same (or better) performance for 1/5 of the price. The VR-4sr's will give you even better performance.

Is the converse true? I don't find the Wilson WP sound is giving me the lens into music that I'm looking for - too hifi sounding.

I will try to locate the CAR speakers. How might they compare to Tannoy Churchills, TAD TSM-300, Pioneer 2251, and Tannoy Exclusive (??..can't remember exact name, they were 2 huge corner speakers with massive woofers).

In a system with expensive Cello preamp/amp and Burmester 001 CD, I found the Churchlls to have sweetest and detailed voice reproduction, but extremely lacking in detail below lower midrange. The other Tannoy had great bass, but lacked treble detail, using I believe Chord amplification and Esoteric CD. The TAD and Pioneer units sounded OK, but didn't have the class of sound I wanted, in terms of transparency, harmonic texture, openness/airiness. They were both much lower budget speakers, however.

I heard a vintage Wharfedale speakers with Mcintosh pre/pro (240), and it sounded phenomenal, musically completely spot-on and involving. They were asking US$1000 for the speaker and over US$8000 for the pre/pro set. There was no model number on the speakers, and I had no idea if they were a good buy or not...I saw with regret today that they were sold. Was the secret in the amps or speakers? Why couldn't that sound come out of the Tannoys or Pioneers? I didn't do extended or critical listening of the Wharfedales, I assume they wouldn't hold a candle to the others along most audiophile measurements.

If I can't locate more speakers in Hong Kong, I may consider purchasing unheard, online. I worry now from experiences like these, however, that I am a very subjective listener, and even a highly recommended speaker of the right type (i.e. musically revealing, transparent, high sensitivity, possibly horns or Lowther single or multidriver box) wouldn't quite get it right for me. I hope I'm not that subjective in a picky way, just have rigorous criteria.

I came across a product called "zero" in a agon forum, which seems to make it possible to use low sensitivity speakers such as the Eggleston Works Savoy with low or medium power tube amps. Would this be a possible solution to expanding my options? Would I get full performance from such speakers, compared to SS? Are there any compromises, other than lower maximum SPL?

I just found the speakers for my system- a pair of $500 ELOD floorstanders that I had retired for surround duty when I got my B&W804s.

After upgrading most of my front-end (top-end tubes everywhere, good cabling, power conditioning, isolation), I started to get much better sound from my 804s, including noticeable bass extension and clarity, midrange smoothness, detail, etc., but they were still far from what I expect from my system. I've auditioned dozens of speakers in every price category (from 2k-40k) over the last month, but hadn't found my perfect speaker yet. I was desperate enough today to order a high-sensitivity box or horn speaker online without auditioning, when I figured I should try my old speakers I've had for 5 years.

Wow! My sound system came to life. The Elods completely outclasses the 804s with my tube amps, and the overall sound is on par or better than most of the high-end systems I've been listening to, including many with 20k to 30k speakers. I'm convinced with proper placement and room treatment, soundstaging and other 'audiophile' qualities would improve, but right now the musicality and sweetness of sound is amazing.

Talk about source first. I'm pumping about $60,000 of front-end into $500 speakers.

I just discovered this an hour ago, so I haven't tinkered with the front-end to see where the responsibility lies. So far I switched out the Kondo silver cabling, and the magic disappeared. These are absolutely amazing speaker cables, btw. I A/B'ed them against its smaller sibling which only uses half the silver wiring, and still extremely expensive. I was fully expecting to buy the 'cheaper' one, but the sound quality was at least double, proportionally in line with the price (I figure in audio if you're ever on the linear part of the quality/expensive curve, that's a good deal).

I wonder what even a 2-3k high-sensitivity speaker would sound like in my system. Perhaps these ELODs are just sensitive enough to get out of the way and let me Jadis do its thing, I haven't checked their specs. In any case, I definitely recommend against using B&Ws with low-powered tube amps, as I've seen people recommend. Anyways, I'm happy with the sound finally, and might wait until CES 2006 before making a more informed speaker upgrade than I was just about to do!

Unless I get the upgrade bug earlier...:-)