Admittedly a bit lost


Folks

I am a long time music lover who is dipping his toes into high end audio for the first time. I have long enjoyed high quality headphones (Sennheiser HD650) and earphones (Etymotics all the time) but have not spent the big bucks (that I don't have) for high-end equipment. :)

However, I have recently acquired a Jolida tube amp (40W output) and am looking for good speakers to pair with them. I intend to go around listening to a bunch of speakers but I need to at least narrow down what sort I should ask my local dealers to have available for me to try. That is what this thread is about.

My constraints are thus:
- My musical tastes run the gamut from classical choral pieces (Bach's cantatas and mass, Arvo Part, Hilliard Ensemble's works etc - i.e. all mid-range frequencies) to experimental electronic music (Autechre, Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus etc - i.e. deep sub-bass and full-frequency spread music with absolutely zero traditional instruments and every sound is synthesized).
- My amp is a 40W tube amp
- I live in an apartment and so listen at volumes ranging from low to moderate.
- My budget for speakers is about $3K (slightly flexible).

With those constraints, my dilemma is that I don't know if I should be trying out high-efficiency speakers or low-efficiency ones? Should I look for 8ohm speakers or 4ohm ones? Something tells me that with low power tube amps, I should be looking at a high efficiency low impedence speaker. However, will that sort of speaker be able to navigate the high speed bass attack of electronic music when driven by an amplifier such as mine?

I am not sure where to begin, so I would really like some advise from folks here. Thank you so much!
badri
@Melbguy1 - that is a brand I had no heard of at all - but the reviews of the piece do make it sound great. I don't see any dealers for Proac in the BayArea though. Might need to see what I can do about that. Also - the price point for a new set is way out of my budget - but perhaps I should keep an eye out on this site to see if any go on sale.

Thanks so much for that tip!
@Yashu - Unfortunately I am nowhere near Nashville- but hearing the second recommendation for Proac just makes me even more eager to audition them!
@Audiokinesis - once again, thank you so much. As you might have guessed, I am going about this as a three pass process - in which steps 2 & 3 are the same as what you proposed!

a) Collect recommendations/suggestions from this group and see if I can find a place to audition things that come highly recommended from here.
b) Do a first round of listening to a combination of what the dealers think would be a good idea and the suggestions from here and see what sounds best with the wide variety of music I like to create a shortlist.
c) Take my amp around with me and do a deeper listen from the shortlist.

This does sound like it will be a long process - but I am quite excited to get started :)
@Mesch Is there a reason you suggest restricting myself to bookshelf/monitors over a floorstander?
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