Tube Friendly Speakers - Down to 30Hz - $3000?

Acoustic Zen Adagios get close to 30hz, are small, highly sensitive, look good, and sound great. Katli Audio and Upscale both carry the speaker - and if either has a demo pair, they're probably close to your $ range.

Marty

PS - Upscale can demo the Adagio with the Prima Luna for you.

Tvad,

Don't want to sound like (pardon the pun) a broken record, but I believe Kevin at Upscale has Cary Silver Oaks on hand. Honestly, I have no affiliation with the guy, I just think his inventory is heavy on the kind of stuff you're seeking; SET amplification and good partnering speakers.

Marty

Tvad,

Regarding the published specs for sensitivity and impedance. Take these with a grain of salt. At least one manufacturer on your list, Coincident, has, on more than one ocassion, printed sensitivitiy numbers that are MUCH higher than reviewers' test results. No doubt that the Coincident speakers are high sensitivity models, it's just that comparisons of printed specs can be misleading because there is evidently a lot of latitude in determining these #s.

Printed specs are a good place to start narrowing the field, but I'd try to talk to a dealer who handles both one of your possible amps and possible speakers to get some feedback on the combo. I'm specifically thinking Adagio/PrimaLuna at Upscale (because I was so impressed with the speaker when I heard it - at Katli), but it's probably just good general practice for this task. Best of luck in the hunt.

Marty

Tvad,

Your experience(s) are unfortunate, don't really know what to say. FWIW, I saw the Silver Oaks a while back at Kevin's and seem to recall a footprint of less than 10" square and a height of +/- 4 feet. I never listened to the speaker so I can't comment on their performance.

Tvad,

One more local thought. OS Services in Toluca Lake is a distributor for several speaker lines that are SET friendly and not often seen anywhere. Check the OSS Audio web site and be sure to click closeouts. I bought a pair of Zingali horns after he lost distribution rights some years back and while these would also fit your requirements, I'm not sure which Zingali remain at OSS. He has a couple of others that might be of interest to you, too.

Good Luck,

Marty