The two most common mistakes are bass and treble

@bjesien

That’s probably the most rational view of audiophile spending as a hobby I’ve ever heard. To set a budget for the amount of money you are willing to go out and play with.

That’s a different take than those trying to get to their final system. My budget there is all tied up in new GIK hardware though, and maybe a new DAC. I have to keep reminding myself that upgrading the room acoustics often makes upgrading the hardware unnecessary.

Of course, one of the most cost effective ways to experiment and learn in this hobby is to make your own from kits. :)

The point of using mid to low power amplifiers with high efficiency, easy to drive speakers is not wrong, btw. I don’t disagree with it but it is kind of it’s own sub-genre of audiphilia.

I kind of would really like to hear @atmasphere and Fritz in a room together sometime. I think that would potentially be a phenomenal match up, given Fritz has ruler flat impedance above the bass.

I kind of would really like to hear @atmasphere and Fritz in a room together sometime. I think that would potentially be a phenomenal match up.

Yes it is a nice set up. Fritz and I did a show several years ago with my Atma-Sphere amps and his speakers. We also had a 300B SET amp and it was surprisingly a great match for the speaker. Fritz's speakers are typically 6 ohm and a pretty flat 6 at that, with very benign phase angle. They are not high efficiency either. Duke LeJuene has praised them as the closest thing to a free lunch and I often point out to people they are the best kept secret in audio.

While I think @atmasphere made some very good points about distortion and speaker efficiency (pay attention to his example of the 4 ohm efficiency calculation using 2.83V), there is something to be said for designs that are not high efficiency. In my collection, my best speakers are not the high efficiency Audio Note AN-e or my DIY single driver using an Audio Nirvana driver, they are my Spendor 1/2e, Quad ESL, Acoustat Model 2, and Analysis Audio Omega. None of which should be confused with high efficiency.

To Atmasphere:  I'm on my third pair of  low impedance, super-inefficient Magnepans.   I've had many other brands of speakers - Altec, Allison, Advent, AR, B&W, Definitive Technology, Elac, KLH, Klipsch, and Wharfdale.
In my opinion, Magnepans are the most neutral speakers made, as well as fantastic bargains.  

When we talk about speaker distortion and thermal compression I’m not sure it’s fair to lump systems without voice coils like Magnepans with normal to low efficiency cone speakers though I know it keeps happening. The physics of the heat and distortion are entirely different as far as I know.