In 1970 or so I bought a pair of Altec A7s from the Strawberry Alarm Clock's drummer. That was my introduction to efficiency and they sounded amazing and served my bands well until I finally sold them in '86. I'd put the horns in their own frames and sealed and tuned the bass bins by that time, using them bi-amped. To really make them handle uncompressed bass (like a kick drum) I put JBL bass guitar speakers in them and that worked amazingly well.
Efficient speakers -- What was your journey from A to B to ?
This thread is for people who have tried a successive number of efficient speakers and are willing to relate what they learned on the way.
Here's where I am: Recent experiences with speakers and amps has lead me toward lower watt (not ultra low) amps and more sensitive speakers.
I currently am looking for a second pair of speakers to alternate with my Ascends which would play more nicely with my Quicksilver Mono 60s and my Pass XA 25. (If I found the right speakers, I could be willing to look into SET amps, etc. but that is not my quest, now.)
I am open to design -- horns, open baffle, single driver, etc. My budget is flexible but I won't spend tens of thousands. So, some options are likely not possible.
Here are the speakers I am keeping an eye out for, used, but please add to my list!
Audio Note
Coherent Audio
Coincident — planar magnetic tweeters
Daedalus
Fyne
Klipsch
legacy
Living Voice
Omega
Pure Audio Project
spatial
Tannoy
Volti
Again, I'm especially interested in hearing from folks who have tried more than one of these speakers and can explain what lead them from one brand or model to the next -- and why.
Thanks!
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@ozzy62 you bring up a good point my friend. Greg is also a go to guy when it comes to modifying Klipsch speakers. It would be a cool way to go if that was the way to a great pair of speakers. Find a nice vintage pair of K-horns or Lascala (sp) and have Greg work his magic. I understand with Greg’s mods the bigger Klipsch really shine.
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Efficiency vs. Sensitivity: See article below page one sec C: https://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/reference/notes/tech1-3a.htm The video below explains impedance and the differences between efficiency and sensitivity. Mike |
@ditusa I've read about this distinction before, but obviously it didn't take! You can tell this is out of my area! I appreciate the reminders and the links. Thank you! |
In layman terms, a) Efficiency b) Bass c) Cabinet size (refrigerator size vs WAF size) Pick 2 (ab, bc or ac) But, there's a whole lot more advanced topics tied to driver design, quality, compromises, etc.... Yummy quality power is very affordable these days, i.e., it isn't the 70s. Pursuit of efficiency and exclusion of "supposedly inefficient" ear candy speakers is a silly thing to do in 2024 and an unnecessary restriction/compromise imposed on the engineering workspace. One would be surprised how little power the "supposedly inefficient" ear candy speakers actually use at deafness inducing spl levels.
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