Bookshelf Speakers for Luxman 590axii?

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Bluethinker

I'm a happy owner of Buchardt Audio S400 MkIIs, and agree they open up when driven with more power (or at lease amps). I've had Fritz Carbon 7s in my system on loan, and I really did love them.....in some aspects better than the Buchardts.

I personally would not buy the Buchardt S400 MkII replacement, until the Buchardt E50s are out and reviewed....but they too will need power at 4ohm and 85db

@bluethinker I’ve owned the Falcon Q7. An outstanding small stand mount. Your Luxman is plenty sufficient to drive the Q7 or the Falcon LS/35a!!

A few things come to mind as differences:

The Fritz is a fuller sound particularly given the lower end extension down to 37Hz. They are rear ported.  It’s a more balanced speaker wrt its flat response curve. It does not accentuate any particular frequency.  It is also a very smooth speaker that is well integrated (tweeter and mid/bass driver).  It uses a series crossover which helps with both the driver integration and the flat impedance curve.  They play everything well.

The Falcon Q7s have a low end extension to maybe 60Hz.  They are a sealed box design which makes what bass they do play a bit tighter.  They are brighter and do have a bump in the midrange of the response curve.  Mine have the Gold Badge crossover which smooths out the edginess in the high frequencies.  They are very good for small space near field listening, particularly for vocals, jazz, etc.

I have a couple of subs in my system so I don’t really notice any lack of low frequency response from either speaker. 

Both speakers have excellent soundstage, imaging, and transient response.  If you have a broad range of musical tastes I think the Fritz would be a better fit,  but I’ve played every kind of music out of the Falcons and they’ve done well with it all.

The Fritz will play much louder but the Falcons aren’t really designed to be played at concert levels. That said the Falcons will happily play at 75-80 db all day which is louder than I usually listen.  If you like the sound of the Grahams you will like the Q7.  The Q7 is a kit, though you can have Falcon pre assemble it, which is what I did.  It’s also half the price of the LS3/5a.  I would get the Gold Badge crossover as well.  One last thing, the Q7 is basically an LS3/5a in a slightly larger cabinet.  Here is a link to a review

https://www.stereonet.com/uk/reviews/falcon-acoustics-q7-loudspeaker-kit-review

@sunshdw - Thank you for the suggestion. I'll absolutely take a look at them. 

@jastralfu - Quick question for you. Could you describe the differences between the Falcon's and Fritz speakers? Anything you'd describe as sort of fundamentally different between the two? 

@erik_squires - Thanks for the recommendation, Erik. 

@immatthewj - Thank you for the recommendation on the thread. 

@yogiboy - I've read great things about those Falcon Gold badge speakers. Do you have any direct experience with them? Would welcome hearing about your perspective on them if you've heard and/or owned them. 

@paradisecom - Thank you for recommendation on the Omega speakers. It's a name I've seen in the forums but have not yet researched. Will do so. 

@jimmy2615 - Thank you. Based on an experience of having purchased what I feel is a mismatch between Amp and speaker, I've been particularly sensitive (maybe overly so) on the question of whether a given amp can really drive a speaker. @atmasphere - Atmasphere has kindly and wisely helped me understand how some amps/speakers just simply have better synergy. 

But I guess I've come to a personal conclusion to avoid "starving a speaker of power." It just seems, from my very limited experience, that most speakers perform better when fed enough watts and current to really open up and demonstrate their strengths. 

@immatthewj I get it. I was looking for a smaller tube amp and I found that SETs that could make 5 Watts aren't small. The amp I'm using can sit on a sheet of notebook paper with room left over. When you compare PP amps that make the same power as SETs you find SETs really don't have any musical advantage- the PP amp (if designed properly) will be able to sound better in every regard. But most people don't compare amps of the same power when comparing SETs to something else...

@atmasphere , OOPS!  Once again--my bad!  When I read 4wpc I just ASSUMED SET.  

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.

@immatthewj I wasn't using an SET for that; I'm not a fan of SETs as they only have about 20-25% usable power and have troubles making deep bass, as well as being physically large for the power they make.  The amp I was using is a class A, push-pull design that is also fully differential. It has a much greater amount of usable power and sounds a lot better than any SET of the same power if other testimony is to be believed. 

+1 for Fritz especially for it's sound quality and easy to drive nature.

In a small room that amp will be fine for most speakers.  I owned it in a 21 x 14 foot room and ran YG Carmels and Harbeth 30.2 just fine.  For reference, I listen mostly in the 80dB’s level at the most.  If you’re looking to go a lot louder perhaps it could become an issue, or depending on the type of music.  Harbeth’s do go well with the Luxman.  I’m sure the other BBC type monitors would also.  Don’t be fooled by the efficiency of some of these speakers.  They may have an efficiency of 86 dB/W/M or something lower, but many have a very friendly impedence curve above 8 ohms.  And even at those lower efficiency ratings, less than 10 watts will easily get you into the 90 dB range.  

For an easier to drive bookshelf, have you looked at Omega Speakers?

Here ya go!

https://generubinaudio.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Ffalcon-acoustics-ls35a

Review!

https://www.stereophile.com/content/falcon-gold-badge-ls35a-loudspeaker

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

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.

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.