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Sweet new tube amp needs better speakers

I am trying to move up from my old Martin Logan 40"s. I recently bought a Cayin CS-55a  30 watt Integrated tube amp. It sounds really good with EL34s or the KT88s. I bought a pair of Triangle Borea Br-03 bookshelf speakers (under $500 / pair) and was Wowed by the improvement in sound. Now I want to move up. My goal is to upgrade to a set of speakers in the $2000 to $4000 price range. they should be floor standers under 43 inches tall and with a sensitivity of over 90db. I don't want them to be excessively bright and I don't plan on using a subwoofer.. We mostly listen to blues, rock and roots music (African, Brazilian  and Middle Eastern). My room is about 14 by 20 and open on the short side to the kitchen. I have been looking at Teckton Perfect Set 2- 10, Zu Omen MK II. Kef Q-950, ProAc DT-8 and the Triangle BR-09 and Gaia EZ. 

thank you in advance for any feedback and suggestions 
Tectons are 3 months out
Zu's out of stock

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Showing 3 responses by larryi

larryi
3,716 posts
 
Is there a reason why it has to be a floor-standing speaker instead of a speaker on a stand, particularly where the speaker/stand combination takes up an equivalent amount of space?:

If you can locate the speakers somewhat close to the back wall, I would recommend looking at used Audio Note speakers/stand combination.  They make really good sounding speakers for use with tube electronics.

In your price range, I like the Rethm Bhaava speaker.  It is essentially an extremely efficient full range driver coupled to a powered woofer (built into the speaker).

I like the sound of ProAc speakers.  I think their more compact speakers on stands actually sound better than some of their floor-standing speakers, so don't overlook their box speakers.

I know people go crazy here if you mention Tekton, but, the Double Impacts are quite good speakers in the $3,000 range.

larryi
3,716 posts
 
Just a bit outside of your price range is the Klipsch Forte IV system.  This is a speaker that works quite well with tube electronics.  Given the 99 db/w at 8 ohm efficiency of this speaker, your 30 watts are way more than capable of driving the speaker.
larryi
3,716 posts
 
I’ve heard the ProAc DT 8 powered by tube amps of similar output and I liked what I heard.  I heard the Zu speakers powered by solid state amps.  The Zu’s are extremely dynamic and exciting, but they have a hard edge to the attack of notes and can sound quite brittle.  This is a speaker that I think is very polarizing; I know a number of listeners who thoroughly hate it (I kind of like it, but I also understand why it can be so off-putting).  I haven’t heard the Triangle speaker you are considering, but, I’ve heard others and generally like the brand.

Good luck on your search.
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