Speaker Suggestions for 300b SET Amp


I built an Elekit 8600 300b set amp recently.  It's amazing. I maxed out upgrades (all Takman resistors, Mundorf top end caps, solder/wiring, etc.).  It's a wonderful amp. It cost me $2k to build it and it's glorious.


My issue hasn't been the amp, but finding speakers that I want to use with it.  


I started with Omega XRS 8 Juniors (~$2k). I broke them in for 300 hours and, while they did get better, they largely sounded like the top and bottom ends were just truncated off at both ends the sound spectrum. They sounded more akin to a transistor radio speaker. I feel terrible to say that and I hope others really love them and hear them differently, as the company is great and the owner is wonderful. They just weren't for me.


So, I just paired the 300b up with some inefficient speakers (both KEF LS50s and Wharfedale 80th anniversary Dentons). Both speakers were part of other systems I have.  Both sets, and especially the cheaper Wharfedales, just sing with the 300b.  They do not play particularly loud given their efficiency ratings, yet they sound wonderful for very close nearfield listening. 


But what I'd like to do is go a bit more into the full range speaker category without buying a massive product. Or, I consider a smaller bookshelf/monitor if it were more efficient.


What speakers do folks like with their 300bs?  


128x128jbhiller
Vaughn Loudspeakers are very good.. Often paired with Wavelength Audio at shows.. 
Altec 604 coaxials are quite stunning, and I get great pleasure out of them with my SET amp.  There are vintage ones, and Great Plains Audio continues to manufacture them (and parts).  If you have space for large speaker cabinets, then the 9 cu ft variants will deliver stunning bass response, as well as the rest of the spectrum.   You do need sufficient drive to power the 15 in woofers, and I don't know if the 300b can go there.  I think the 604 is rated at 98dB +, so there is hope.


Nice seeing Vaughn Loudspeakers brought up by a few folks. Jim Jordan is a super guy.

Since they have not been mentioned yet:

- Teresonic
- Rethm
I understand how tube amps distort (and I like it), and the amp isn’t working nearly as hard when driving the Heresy speakers so I can only assume there’s less distortion than previously (my Silverline Preludes are supposedly 91db but I think they’re less than stated), although I can hear immediately when the amp gets too greasy. In the volume range I’m generally using it’s unstressed…and by loud I suppose I mean loud enough! Regarding refinement, nuance, etc., the Heresy speakers are very musical and coherant…the titanium drivers are smooth and revealing and not bright or fatiguing…the Preludes are also great with the single ended amp but the efficiency of the horns in the Heresy design seem to let the amp sing with less effort (maybe I already said that). Heres a thing: The Heresy speakers came with an offer for free vinyl (there's a sticker on the side of the Klipsch boxes that I sort of forgot about initially)…so for 3 bucks each to cover shipping (one per speaker!) they sent me two 10" 33 1/3 reproductions of early mono vinyl from 1953…and both, a Monk and a Miles, sound astonishingly good…from a company called "The Sound of Vinyl" tied in with the Capitol Records edition of the speakers I wound up with...yeah man…I'm now the old dude with tube amps and horn speakers (we all knew that guy, right?).
What a very nice bonus to get the 2 recordings and especially those two jazz giants and particularly from that era. You re right,  some mono recordings from the early 1950s were well done. The Had amplifier with Heresy speakers seems to be a very good   match 
Charles