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Seeking speakers under $3K for 10x12 ft room and driven by 20wpc tube amp

I currently have a pair of Apogee Acoustics Centaur Minors driven by a new Black Ice integrated tube amp. The small but dedicated listening room means I’m doing near-field listening with me and the speakers forming a 6’ triangle. As you might expect, these speakers have terrific midrange but at 85dB sensitivity they are a bit difficult to drive and feel limited in dynamics. The room is acoustically treated.


I almost exclusively listen to small combo acoustic jazz and vocals and I’m seeking recommendations for something easier to drive and more dynamic that provides a more “palpable presence” of the musicians when played at louder levels. Prefer small floorstanders for aesthetics but not essential and preferably a brand where I might have a chance to audition them (I’m in SoCal). Also open to used (e.g. something like Wilson Cubs). TIA!

p.s. thanks for the Sonus faber suggestion.

ristretto
elliottbnewcombjr
5,559 posts
 

someone said "provides a more “palpable presence” of the musicians when played at louder levels".

I keep shaking my head when I see all these small drivers trying to be woofers, long throw, ports, slots, corner placement reinforcement, .... and finally, like I did with my Wharfedales, add a self-powered sub so they don’t sound as small as they actually are. Superior parts, crossover wizardry from a magic kingdom cannot get more ’palpable presense’ out of these size drivers.

Your existing speakers indicate a past draw to ribbons, ribbon tweeters, I suspect years of listening with no strong fundamentals and their overtones.

I wish you lived near enough to hear these compact 3 ways with a 10" woofer that my experience indicates you can listen to from a short distance. I assumed they would be ’too big, that close’, so happy to discover I was wrong.

Having level controls to adjust the frequencies to whatever space you use them in is a big plus, repeat, big plus, for any speaker, in any space. The preponderance of room treatments is related to the lack of level controls IMO!

 

 

elliottbnewcombjr
5,559 posts
 

I'm specifically using, thus recommending AR-2ax.

Aren't there other 3 way compact speakers out there with larger woofers to recommend?

elliottbnewcombjr
5,559 posts
 

KLH Model 5, New, Compact 3 Way very similar to the AR-2ax, mostly out of stock, this indicates available

actually available? $2,500 pair new

 

helomech
1,715 posts
 

Used or closeout Spendor A4s. Sound phenomenal with tubes. 

lowtubes
104 posts
 

Hi there, I had a similar issue/problem. I have a pair of Rogers LS3/5a 15ohm speakers that I like very much and was driving them with 15 watt 300b mono block amplifiers.  After realizing that speakers were showing distortion at medium levels, I decided to get more power.  I was initially using the 300b mono amps because I wanted the best quality amplification driving the Rogers.  I’ve since moved to a Conrad Johnson Premier Four 100 watt EL34 amp, then a 45 watt single end 805 tube dual mono tube amplifier and finally now have a Conrad Johnson Premier 1b 130lb 150 watts EL34 tube amp.  All 3 of these amps sound great on the Rogers especially the 1b and the 805 tube amp.   So getting plenty of power or the correct amount of power is important. 

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