Fritz Audio and Salk Audio are highly recommended here for easy to drive speakers. I have Zu Omen Defs which are super sensitive and only need a few watts to drive. I really like them, especially how they separate each instrument and vocal so clearly. The worst thing about them is they are extremely sensitive to placement. Quite the learning curve for me.
I have been very, very impressed with Ascend Acoustics Sierra Tower with RAAL tweeter. I plan to do a write up, soon, but these are my main speakers now. Their tweeters are really top notch; very clear without the harshness of other metal dome tweeters I’ve heard. They are not at the top of the speaker, and that, too, is a design plus. The bass is quite good but, more important for me, they mate extremely seamlessly with my subs. Don't get bogged down with sensitivity specs, thought these are over 90db, effectively. More important, look at the impedance graphs -- barely dips below 5 ohms, if memory serves. I also have Salks, but they are stand mounts and harder to drive well. Ascend is a great company to work with. They really know what they’re doing. Very responsive over email, phone. I am driving them with Quicksilver Mono 60wpc and even with KT77 tubes, they have plenty of get up and go. They sing with my Pass XA 25. At the $3k price point, I don’t think I could have found a better match for my gear.
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@jtcf I love my Salks, but if you look at a fair number of the speakers on his site, they are not easy to drive. The HT speakers are better but by and large, I would say this is a major lacuna for the company. Fritz speakers were driven easily by my tube amps. They are delightful sounding, voiced with sensitivity and genuine expertise. I think they provide exceptional value. |
Many hi efficiency non horn speakers are single driver speakers like Omega or Lowthers or back loaded horn cabinets. I’ve been in this hobby 40 years and used to sell audio gear at the retail level & wouldn’t necessarily suggest high efficiency speakers with a Mac 275 amp. I certainly would with a low powered SET amp though. |
You might like the Wolf von Langa SON. Cutting edge field coil drivers, dipole presentation, happy with 18 watts. Sounds alive.
Here’s a nice review: HFA - Wolf von Langa SON |
@hilde45 of course you would know better than I,having actually owned them! Those are the first that came to mind that many seem happy with. I also forgot about Cube Audio.I was close to buying a pair of Ascends myself, but got an offer too good to refuse on the Zus.I'll look forward to your review:-) |
@alphonsodamato
I looked at the Legacy Signature and the enclosure looks close to minimal allowable for the woofers. Are you looking for a smaller speaker which likely means smaller woofers? Seems that even bookshelf speaker stands have similar footprints to floor standers. Your 75 watt MC275 VI tube amp will drive a lot of great speakers. What's your budget? |
Just adding my humble 2 cents. if you don’t mind dipping slightly below to 89dB sensitivity, take a look at the Kharma CRM 3.2 FE or their similar models. The 3.2 was reportedly voiced with a pair of single ended Lamm ML2. Just prepare to feed it with high quality front end because thats the only way to extract the best from these speakers. They are extremely revealing. Speaker load is very easy with tube friendly phase and impedance. The 3.2 throws a very natural soundstage as deep and wide as your recording allows. Image is rock sold and believable is a smooth analog manner. This is one of the few speaker I have the pleasure to own that doesn’t need room correction and sound completely uncolored. I have no problem driving them with a pair of 90 Watts Class A to reasonable loud levels. |
+1 on Zu Audio speakers. I was lucky enough to get a pair of the fully uprgraded Dirty Weekends from the last and final run. (Caveat—during pandemic w/shortages I waited 9months) These show up for sale now again, but Sean over at Zu says they’ll bring a similar product to market soon. When your wife, who normally wishes you would “keep it down”, says, “whoa! I’ve never heard that before in this piece!” Or “these sound closer to “live” than I’ve ever heard!”, you’re onto something. I normally push them with a peachtree Nova 150. However, given they’re high sensitivity, playing with other amps has been a lot of fun as well as instructive in the hobby. …but with the nova and the ODWs I can run everyone out of the house and get the neighbors upset.😅 best of luck! dgc |
@alphonsodamato : High efficiency makers (>95 db) - wide range of prices. All made in North America or have dealers in North America (one or two exceptions) Would also focus on impedance - with these sort of speakers should be able to have 8 or 6 ohms. Would not buy a 4 ohm speaker At 90 - 95db sensitivity, there are additional brands not mentioned below (which your amp would easily drive, if the speaker is 8 or 6 ohms) Caintuck (open baffle, mostly) Classic Audio Coherent Audio Creation Audio (Australia, however) Cube Audio Daedalus Fern & Roby Fleetwood Sound ($) Goodwin Speakers Lii Audio NSMT Ocellia (France, $) Omega Speakers (mentioned above) Pure Audio Project (open baffle) Spatial (open baffle) Zu (The Salks and Ascends mentioned above seem to be of pretty ordinary efficiency, unless I am missing something. Left out Klipsch because of large footprint. I may have left out something mentioned above it’s by accident) Fun question - let us know as you start to narrow things down, would be great to hear your thinking! Have a great day |