What speakers work well for low watt amps?

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #140 on:** 10 Mar 2019, 04:13 am »

I met a writer who had a pair of 12'' German vintage field coils that had a speaker that heated the coil a lot, which prevented it from being heard more than 15 minutes.

Joe Frances · « **Reply #141 on:** 10 Mar 2019, 04:28 pm »

I would love to switch to a low wattage tube amp or a First Watt from Pass, or Sugden Class A, but I am looking to get lighter monitor size speakers, and my impression is that the kind of high sensitivity speakers you need for those types of amps are large and often heavy. Frankly I am of an age when hiring to burly high school fellows to move speakers around on a dolly is not my idea of a fun afternoon. Omega makes some relatively small speakers but I am not looking for that "style" of speaker, and the better ones that Louis has weigh over 30lbs and are pretty big.

Any suggestions?

opnly bafld · « **Reply #142 on:** 10 Mar 2019, 07:44 pm »

How loud (spl) do you listen?

I have found @20 watt amps work for me with just about any speaker.

planet10 · « **Reply #143 on:** 10 Mar 2019, 07:53 pm »

Many of the speakers we play with work well with PASS Class A amps. I have a SIT 3, and my ACA amps (both in stereo and bridged in mono) work well… it is very dependednt o how big your room is and how loud you play.

dave

-Richard- · « **Reply #144 on:** 11 Mar 2019, 06:12 pm »

Hi Bemopti123 ~

Yes, that was the problem exactly, the musically important high frequencies were missing from the Supravox field coil drivers necessitating a tweeter, another expense and complication.

-Richard- · « **Reply #145 on:** 11 Mar 2019, 06:43 pm »

Hi Joe ~

You are a good candidate for building simple Open Baffle speakers. It is the need for constructing rigid cabinet-style baffles that makes many speaker cabinets so heavy. A well-designed high sensitivity driver or rather 2 drivers, one 8" wide-range the other a larger 15" driver for bass duties mounted on a simple plywood panel with cut outs for the drivers and you are ready to enjoy the magic that a low watt tube or SS amplifier can deliver in musical bliss. The only other thing you need for the bass driver is a simple passive coiled inductor cross-over that will cut off the frequencies above, say 150 to 300 Hz, depending on how low your wide-range driver naturally goes.

Nelson Pass himself listens to music on this kind of simple construction. The room itself acts as the 'baffle' in Open Baffle speaker designs, saturating the room with rich sonic light. There are many high sensitivity drivers that can fit anyones budget that can serve this kind of simple yet incredibly effective speaker design.

The expense of most cabinet-style speakers is the cabinet itself. The drivers used are usually not the highest quality, and they are also usually not high sensitivity.

It was Nelson Pass who helped music lovers to recognize the potential for magic that low-watt amplifiers can deliver and so to re-think the idea that we need big watt amplifiers.

With Friendship ~ Richard

-Richard- · « **Reply #146 on:** 11 Mar 2019, 07:14 pm »

Hi FullRangeMan ~

"I never listened the 15'' but I suppose the bass and mid bass is much more rich due the huge cone."

Actually, I did hear the 15" AN Alnico on an Open Baffle speaker design and it sounded good, the bass and lower mid-range sounded rich. If my memory serves me faithfully the upper Frequencies were not necessarily transparent. I think generally speaking smaller wide-range drivers like your 10" AN Alnico have an advantage in reproducing more refined and transparent higher frequencies.

However, there are other ways to augment the bass of your 10" AN to sound a little richer, such as a simple Frequency Equalizer, which can be effective. Apple computers have a simple digital equalizer and some streaming services offer this option as well. Some amplifiers are 'voiced' to perform particularly well with lower frequencies. I had a lovely 7-watt tube amplifier for several years that had effective treble and bass controls. The bass really could be used to bring out a rich bass on any speaker.

Nelson Pass 'bumps' the base on his wide-range Lowthers, and Harbeth speakers are known for 'bumping' the bass as well to get them to sound richer.

Have a Lovely Day ~ Richard

Shogun · « **Reply #147 on:** 13 Mar 2019, 10:42 pm »

Quote from: Joe Frances on 10 Mar 2019, 04:28 pm

I would love to switch to a low wattage tube amp or a First Watt from Pass, or Sugden Class A, but I am looking to get lighter monitor size speakers, and my impression is that the kind of high sensitivity speakers you need for those types of amps are large and often heavy. Frankly I am of an age when hiring to burly high school fellows to move speakers around on a dolly is not my idea of a fun afternoon. Omega makes some relatively small speakers but I am not looking for that "style" of speaker, and the better ones that Louis has weigh over 30lbs and are pretty big.

Any suggestions?

Depend how low? Any Coherent Audio loudspeaker can be driven by a 3 watt 2A3 SET. With a 8 watt 300B, you got also Audio Note AN-E, but they're expensive.

I would suggest the Coherent Audio GR8 model. Don't confuse with the GR8 Slim model which is longer.

http://www.coherentaudio.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Model-8GR.pdf

https://coherentguy7.wixsite.com/coherentaudio

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #148 on:** 13 Mar 2019, 11:07 pm »

Quote from: -Richard- on 11 Mar 2019, 07:14 pm

Actually, I did hear the 15" AN Alnico on an Open Baffle speaker design and it sounded good, the bass and lower mid-range sounded rich. If my memory serves me faithfully the upper Frequencies were not necessarily transparent. I think generally speaking smaller wide-range drivers like your 10" AN Alnico have an advantage in reproducing more refined and transparent higher frequencies.

Hi Richard,
I have most bass wth my 10Alnico as I do the passive treatment I posted years ago:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=100689.0
I mean say the Super15 could have a even bigger bass under 100Hz in a 13.6 box or even bigger enclosure, but it dont fit my room, in OB the Super15 bass may dont have slam but as you say the bass was good, I imagine how good it could be inside a suited box.

So I must thankyou for the related information on the 10Alnico, I more happy now, I also have to thanks thats car wood blanket, it increased the bass hugely and cost a bargain about $10 per kilo.

Swann36 · « **Reply #149 on:** 28 Apr 2020, 05:32 pm »

I've Klipsch Quartets (92) driven by Minute EL34 tube amp its 10wpc Class A .. thoughts do i qualify for low wattage with this ?

Either way this forum is of great interest as i also have some Infinity Quantum Jrs (78) vintage they are 4ohm i believe so not sure if its good to drive them through the tube amp ?

Chaplir · « **Reply #150 on:** 8 Jul 2020, 01:45 am »

I have Klipsch Forte II’s with Crites xovers and titanium tweeter diaphragms in use with 6 watts per channel.

dalton · « **Reply #151 on:** 15 Jul 2020, 12:17 pm »

I've heard the RP-600m . (Subjectively, no dbt) they have a good amount of detail. Pleasant sound. A little bit of chestiness in the low mids and not a whole lot of bass support. It's not a bad speaker. Its stregnth is that it knows what "not to do". So what it can't do, it smartly does not.
Personally I would take the Emotiva T zero (or t1) over it. I have heard the T2 which I thought provided better speed, soundstage, dynamics and bass. Their stregnth is that it provides that illusive "holographic soundstage" that people like.

whoopycat · « **Reply #152 on:** 24 Jun 2021, 09:24 pm »

I will second Coherent speakers in Canada. My 6-10 watt amps drive my Model 10's with ease and my Coherents are only rated about 94db efficient.

I am a big fan of Zu speakers which have higher sensitivity specs but honestly I think the Zu's like a bit more power. The Coherents seem quite happy with single digit power. I know Frank at Coherent uses the MicroZOTL 1 watt amp to test his speakers in his shop.

stereophe · « **Reply #153 on:** 7 Aug 2021, 02:13 am »

i think, If money is not a issue and want something better than a Lowther without their weakness.

isaacc7 · « **Reply #154 on:** 7 Aug 2021, 04:04 am »

I use Phase Technology PC 3.5 speakers and sit about 8 feet away from them. They are rated at 90db sensitivity and I've used them with my current amp down around 4 watts with single ended 6v6 pentode. In the past I used a previous version (PC 3) with a push pull 6bl7 amp which I think is a little powerful than that.

Carlsbad · « **Reply #155 on:** 26 Jan 2022, 02:19 pm »

I am currently driving my 6' tall 145 lb floorstanders with a 10wpc Sophia Baby amp.

Tekton speakers are somewhat controversial with people bashing them who have never heard them. Do yourself a favor and listen. I have the Encores that I picked up almost new from a guy who took the bashing personally.

Tektons are very efficient (numbers have been challenged by the bashers). My Encore's published numbers are a sensitivity of 96. I'd put this little integrated amp and floorstanders up against just about any system. I paid $500 for the amp on ebay. It has only one set of inputs and no remote. simple, perfect amplification.

I have a slightly bigger amp coming, Ayon Spark Delta, with more features. I only hope is sound as good as my small Italian lady.

Jerry

Tyson · « **Reply #156 on:** 26 Jan 2022, 04:28 pm »

In my last post I mentioned the GR Research Super 7's and the Pure Audio Project speakers as good OB speakers for low watt amps.

Since then I've acquired a pair of Spatial Audio X3s and will add them to the list of great speakers for low watt amps. I've run it with a Type 45 amp (2 watts), a 2a3 amp (4 watts), a 300b amp (7 watts) and an EL84 amp (12 watts) and it sounded great with all of them. Since the bass is self-powered with a 300 watt dedicated amp, the tube amps only have to drive the mids/highs, which are 97db efficient.

Chazz5 · « **Reply #157 on:** 26 Jan 2022, 09:42 pm »

I have Focal Aria 906 bookshelf speakers, rated as shown below. A First Watt amp rated at 25 watts with 1% THD at 1 kHz into 8 ohms drives them just fine. So does a Quicksilver Integrated amp rated at 20 watts into any load from 2 to 8 ohms.

Freo-1 · « **Reply #158 on:** 26 Jan 2022, 09:47 pm »

I would recommend a speaker whose sensitivity is over 93db/w or higher. Many of the Klipsch speakers are very sensitive. The K-Horn is 104 db/w.

planet10 · « **Reply #159 on:** 26 Jan 2022, 09:57 pm »

Often, these small amps are SE with high R_out, an amplifier that will be much happier with a loudspeaker with a flattih impedance curves.

I have seen NO measurement of a Klipsch impedance (with the stock XO) that anywhere near stisfies this metric.

They may be efficeint (typically rated about 3 dB than they really are), but not really suite dto a high R_out amplifier.

Crites does some aftremarket XOs that fix this issue with some Klipsch.

dave