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Bookshelf Speakers for Luxman 590axii?

Hi All - 

I’ve been running a Luxman 590axii in my office for a couple of years with Buchardt S400 MKii speakers. While the pairing is good I think the Luxman really need an easier speaker to drive. This is a secondary system and I’ll be switching in the Luxman and new speaker every few months for variety. It’s a smallish room and there is a listening chair about 8 feet from the amp/speaker set up. 

I’ve been intrigued by the Graham LS3/5 speakers…

 

The other components in the system:

  • Gold Note DS-10 Streamer/Dac 
  • Lessloss speaker cables 
  • Cardas Clear Reflection power cable 
  • Revelation Labs IC 
  • Puritan 136 power conditioner 

The Luxman 590axii is rated as 30 watts of class a, but goes into Class AB up to something like 90 watts at 8 ohms. While that may be true, I’ve personally come to the conclusion this version of the Luxman shines best with an easier speaker load so it stays in class A. The Buchardt’s start distorting pretty quickly once the volume goes up. 
 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! 

 

 

 


 

 

128x128bluethinker
sunshdw's avatar
sunshdw
254 posts
 

I have been super impressed by the PS Audio FR5. I'm using a Cambridge Edge A integrated which is 100wpc which drives them really well.

jastralfu's avatar
jastralfu
412 posts
 

I have Fritz speakers and they are easy to drive and sound outstanding.  I also have a pair of Falcon Acoustic Q7s which are similar to the Graham LS3/5s. Neither is a very efficient speaker. I think both are rated near 83db with the Falcon at 15 ohms and the Graham at 11 ohms. My Falcons take a noticeable turn of the volume to get the same loudness as my Fritz’s. However, the Falcon is a lovely speaker although limited given its size. The Grahams are likely similar to the Falcon and don’t get very loud but they are plenty loud for my usual listening levels. My guess is that you will experience the same distortion issues with the Grahams at high volumes but that’s more likely a speaker limitation than an amp issue.

immatthewj
2,030 posts
 

I was recently reading a "bookshelf speaker with lower power tube amp thread" (20 wpc I think I remember) on this forum, and the subject of Fritz Carbon 6 or 7s with 4 or 5 wpc SET amp driving them quite well. I remember @atmasphere was the one who posted that he was using the low powered SET amp to drive them, and then the owner of the company (I am not sure if Fritz is first or last name) posted to the thread and said that 5wpc would drive them.

Here is the thread I was referring to:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/seeking-speakers-under-3k-for-10x12-ft-room-and-driven-by-20wpc-tube-a

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