I heard Pure Audio Project in Montreal Show 2017: https://youtu.be/UZLmNJe_w3M https://youtu.be/MYxrfcMs4qo I think it was the best room in the show that year! |
2 more things...the PureAudioProject requires about 5 hours of assembly (super easy!!!), they will totally FILL your 20x 30 foot room, they are 96 dB efficient, and you can drive them with as little as a 3 -8 watt tube amp... which is what they were demonstrated with at the recent Munich Audio Show. Was that more than 2 more things?This is a very nice speaker (I've heard it- very tube friendly), but an amp of that power will not be able to work with a room that large with that speaker- you'll run it out of gas. You'll need about 100 watts or so to really do that right. I heard it with a very nice 2A3-based SET, which was obviously running out of power when playing Porcupine Tree in a room only about 15 feet deep. Duke's speakers (Audiokinesis) have similar efficiency (96dB) and are often higher impedance (8 or 16 ohms) and are excellent. Duke seems to also have them very fairly priced! A word about impedance- if high end best quality sound is your goal, your amplifier investment dollar will be best served by a speaker of 16 ohms rather than 8 or 4. All tube amps will have wider bandwidth, lower distortion and and greater power driving 16 ohms (most solid state amps have lower distortion into 16 ohms as well). The distortion issue is important since the increased distortion that results into lower impedances contains higher ordered harmonics which are used by the ear to sense sound pressure- IOW the ear is keenly sensitive to these harmonics- we describe them as brightness and harshness. |
I've also "heard many" horn speakers, and it should be noted that Klipsch Heritage speakers actually DO compete with the far more exotic (re: Expensive) speakers on this list. Have good gear upstream, and, in the case of my Heresy IIIs with couple of subs, you can find magic in them there horns. Newer versions work beautifully without "major mods" and provide 99db efficiency with astonishing coherence and tonal accuracy. Never trust anybody saying anything like, "I haven't heard the newer JBLs" before assuming new ones should be avoided based on past designs. That's just lame. |
The best horn systems are not the ones you find at audio dealers research horns consider a bit of DIY combinations of the best of vintage and modern are the best performing options. I wouldn't consider Klipsch unless entry-level. Avantgarde is also entry-level horn with crazy prices. The Shearer horn designs are pretty much the best horns get but they are not small small horns are wrong horns. You want a fully horn-loaded system any ported box is a compromise not really worth having if performance is the true goal. |
