valve friendly speakers

[lpv]

can you guys put here new or old high sensitivity speakers with good mechanical damping and not the size of a dishwasher?

 

[CnoEvil]

Icon Audio make speakers - No idea what they sound like

ProAc can often work with Valves

Audio Note

 

[insider9]

Red Rose Rosebud nearfield monitors. Ideal for valves and beautiful sounding too.

 

[davedotco]

can you guys put here new or old high sensitivity speakers with good mechanical damping and not the size of a dishwasher?

Not easily, especially if you want some bass.

Size, bandwidth and sensitivity are inextricably linked, physics I'm afraid.

A lot really depends on what you call high sensitivity, to me that suggests figures in excess of 95dB/watt and that is pretty rare. Easy enough to do in the mid and highs but matching that kind of sensitivity with a cone driver with reasonable bass extension is going to be big, very big.

Edit. Most of the models mentioned above do not meet my criterea for high sensitivity, in fact very few modern speakers do.

 

[BigH]

Audio Note speakers are often mentioned as suitable for tube amps.

 

[drummerman]

As davedotco says, you can't have everything in a pint glass. Efficiency and bass are linked to size.

Check do somevl efficient floor standers too.

 

[lindsayt]

can you guys put here new or old high sensitivity speakers with good mechanical damping and not the size of a dishwasher?

No.

Can you?

http://sites.psu.edu/speakerdesign/2013/01/24/hoffmans-iron-laws-of-speaker-building/

http://www.salksound.com/wp/?p=56

 

[lpv]

what about bigger?

 

[insider9]

Red Rose Rosebud nearfield monitors. Ideal for valves and beautiful sounding too.

Granted these are not sensitive but don't are fine with valves in a nearfield setup.

 

[CnoEvil]

what about bigger?

 

[drummerman]

what about bigger? 

🙂

 

[CnoEvil]

what about bigger?

🙂

This photo was taken after Lindsayt's home trial. It was taken back, as it was too small. *biggrin*

 

[insider9]

what about bigger? 

🙂

This photo was taken after Lindsayt's home trial. It was taken back, as it was too small. *biggrin*

*lol*

 

[lpv]

also, it was new unit so not acceptable

 

[Macspur]

Harbeth are known to work well with valves

Mac

www.realmusicnet.wordpress.com

 

[lpv]

tannoy arden?

 

[lindsayt]

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/jbl/hartsfield.htm

Every single sonic issue supposedly solved by going active in a tiny ported speaker is solved better by passive designs like the Hartsfields.

 

[Rethep]

Triangle (French brand), Peitho 33 (Dutch brand). They have an easy elecrical load.

You need a rather big speaker to get some decent low end!

 

[Al ears]

Heco direkt and Arcaydis EB2's.

 

[Infiniteloop]

I use both Focals and Sonus Fabers with my 24 Watt S8. No lack of bass or anything else and both pairs of speakers are around 85 dB. Both pairs will play without stress to party levels.

If anyone prefers more power, go for a ‘push-pull’ design rather than an SET.

 

[plastic penguin]

A lot of valve amps can sound a little soft in the LFs, so a punchy, open speaker should suit. I'm thinking about Totem, PMC (newer ranges), Focal and as Cno suggests, ProAc.

 

[gasolin]

How about Q Acoustics 2050i

 

[lindsayt]

A question for everyone that's posted in this thread so far: do you understand what "good mechanical damping" means in a speaker and how it can be achieved?

 

[lpv]

we have no idea

 

[insider9]

A question for everyone that's posted in this thread so far: do you understand what "good mechanical damping" means in a speaker and how it can be achieved?

Was that the brief? Ok, I take it with your taste in speakers good equals low. In which case we're talking big magnets on big drive units.