Bookshelf Speakers for Luxman 590axii?
Hi All -
I’ve been running a Luxman 590axii in my office for a couple of years with Buchardt S400 MKii speakers. While the pairing is good I think the Luxman really need an easier speaker to drive. This is a secondary system and I’ll be switching in the Luxman and new speaker every few months for variety. It’s a smallish room and there is a listening chair about 8 feet from the amp/speaker set up.
I’ve been intrigued by the Graham LS3/5 speakers…
The other components in the system:
The Luxman 590axii is rated as 30 watts of class a, but goes into Class AB up to something like 90 watts at 8 ohms. While that may be true, I’ve personally come to the conclusion this version of the Luxman shines best with an easier speaker load so it stays in class A. The Buchardt’s start distorting pretty quickly once the volume goes up.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
I was recently reading a "bookshelf speaker with lower power tube amp thread" (20 wpc I think I remember) on this forum, and the subject of Fritz Carbon 6 or 7s with 4 or 5 wpc SET amp driving them quite well. I remember @atmasphere was the one who posted that he was using the low powered SET amp to drive them, and then the owner of the company (I am not sure if Fritz is first or last name) posted to the thread and said that 5wpc would drive them. Here is the thread I was referring to: |
In a small room that amp will be fine for most speakers. I owned it in a 21 x 14 foot room and ran YG Carmels and Harbeth 30.2 just fine. For reference, I listen mostly in the 80dB’s level at the most. If you’re looking to go a lot louder perhaps it could become an issue, or depending on the type of music. Harbeth’s do go well with the Luxman. I’m sure the other BBC type monitors would also. Don’t be fooled by the efficiency of some of these speakers. They may have an efficiency of 86 dB/W/M or something lower, but many have a very friendly impedence curve above 8 ohms. And even at those lower efficiency ratings, less than 10 watts will easily get you into the 90 dB range. |
