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What speakers for 300B S.E.T ??

Hi,

Recently i heard a 300B based Audio electronics SE-1 SET amp + AE-3 pre with Lowther Academy speakers & was quite impressed with the immediacy,dynamics,soundstaging
& basically the whole presentation.

Now i'm very keen to try this to see if this is the kind of sound i would enjoy for a long time.Only way to know this i guess is to try it at home for an extended period of time. My previous exrerience has been with high powered SS .
( For ref : Supratek Chardonnay tube pre + Mac MC352 + TDL Ref studio monitors ) This is my first venture into low powered SET. I love the sound of my present sys. but the SET is a different experience.

Un fotunately my present speakers( 87db ) would not support the 7 watts the AES is capable of. The Lowthers are too expensive to experiment with. My goal is to keep the costs
low as possible . I shall very much appreciate your recommendations for high-sensitive monitors or small floor-standers ( HORN ??? ) preferably under $1K . This could very well end up as a second sys or it could go further.....

So what does everyone use with less than 10 magic watts ????
dilly

Showing 4 responses by boa2

boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
Klipsch La Scala--
About $1000-1200 used. You will want the early
version, with the metal horns. Ours are mated with a
7W SET amp. The horns are dampened with Dynamat, the wiring replaced with silver, and we bought some brand new crossovers that are sold on eBAY for $250. The music sounds even better than if we hook up the amp to our $6500 5-way speakers, which we use only for rock/blues/etc. The horn is so transparent that everything else IMO sounds choked off and less emotional in the midrange. The La Scala's sound amazing with the low wattage SET's. Good luck finding anything better.
All the best,
Howard
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
I was not crazy about the Loth-X horns, or the newer Klipsch variety. But hey, that's just me. If you are going the Klipsch route, go for the earlier models. As mentioned, the Cornwall (around $800 used) is also a great choice. If nothing else, I would recommend trying the SET/horn combo before jumping into a monitor. My wife said it best, I think. When we paired our SET amp with our $6500 floorstanders, she said, "It sounds commercial, whereas the horns make it sound real."

Let us know what you end up getting.
All the best,
Howard
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
Twl,

This looks like a very rewarding project. How do your speakers sound in comparison with other horns that you have heard?

Beautiful system, by the way.
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
Twl,

Thank you for the great feedback. Sounds like this could be a fun project in my future, and one that potentially could work perfectly for Dilly.
All the best,
Howard
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