Have 300b MB want a killer pair of Hi-Eff speakers

I don't know if this still holds true, but back in March Renmeister said he had

"an $8k budget for speakers give or take a thousand"

. But, he has an interesting criterion in that

...speaker that will do justice down to 38hz (AND) must work 5+ feet from the back wall.

I think, true 38Bhz performance, not -6dB or more down, without wall/boundary enhancement is pretty hard to do without lots of power(or really high efficiency), self-powered woofers, or fairly large horn-loading cabinets.

In case others are wondering, it seems Ren's latest reference point is Avantgarde Uno's which have a self-powered (250watt) dual 10", long throw, subwoofer cabinet in each speaker that covers 18 - 350 Hz.

Bass wise, that's a tough act to follow with 300B powered speakers placed 5+ feet away from the nearest wall.

Yet another recommendation for a PHY based speaker. If you want true bass down to 38, you probably want to use a speaker with a 12" PHY. The Tonian Classic 12 fits the bill. There are other very good PHY based brands but I've always been drawn to Tony's speakers and the way he integrates the PHY driver with his modified supertweeter. PHY speakers are not cheap but I find they are worth the additional cost.

There's been a lot of PHY suggestions (I myself want a pr after hearing an Ocellia) but has anyone heard a side by side comparison between the Tonian vs. Ocellia speakers? There are more people that seem to own Tonian, is it becasue they are made in USA and Ocellia made in France?

Rsf507:

In my case it was because I had the chance to demo the Tonians at a Trade show. Given the amount of $ PHY speakers cost, I could not justify buying one without listening to it first. Since Tony is based in Southern California and is the US PHY distributor, it makes sense that more people here probably have a chance to listen to his speaker vs. the others. Tony also sells cheaper (Fostex) based speakers so I think he also gets folks who like the Fostex trading up to the PHY and AER based models over time.

Silbelius,
What is the crossover point from the PHY driver to the ribbon tweeter?`ve read that it`s seamless.

How is this speaker with acoustic(non amplified) jazz instruments?
Thanks,