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Easy to drive, outstandingly natural sound from 40-50 Hz up.....AN-E, O/96, others?

If my goal were to find natural-sounding, dynamic, and efficient speakers that can be driven with a somewhat lower-powered a (i.e., 50-watt SS) amplifier, and that work well with a variety of music, would I be looking at AN-Es, O/96s, or which others?
I am not particularly interested in using a 10-20 watt SET, but being able to use something lower-powered than the 300-watt amplifiers required for my 85dB speakers would open up a lot of other amplifier options and simplify things for me.  I have two fairly high-quality powered subs so the goal would be to fill my (moderately large) room from 40-50 Hz and up and let the subs handle the lower registers.
Any thoughts on the two speakers listed, or recommendations for others?
mitch2
wolf_garcia
6,592 posts
 
Klipsch Heresy IIIs, astonishingly clear and coherent down to about 58hz where subs should do the low range heavy lifting. A relative bargain.
salectric
747 posts
 
Mitch2,

i owned the Spendor SP-100 for over 15 years and used it with a variety of amps ranging from Classe CA-300 (300 watts per channel) at one extreme to a single ended 46 tube amp (1 watt) at the other extreme, with lots of other tube amps in between.  They all sounded good (although the 1w amp clearly had its limits).  Based on my experience, with some occasional loud volumes, I would say the Spendors sound their best with a high-quality push-pull tube amp of 35-50 watts per channel.  The sensitivity rating of 90db only tells part of the story, however.  The SP-100 also has a rather flat impedance and is easy to drive.

My comments are limited to the SP-100, not the R or R2 models which are different speakers.

I considered the Harbeth 40.2 when I was in the market for a new speaker.  Although I wasn’t able to compare them directly, I am pretty confident the Harbeth would have a similar tonal balance with slightly better detail.  The Harbeth is not as easy a load as the SP-100 though and many people feel it needs a powerful solid state amp.


glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,500 posts
 
Living Voice speakers are what I moved to from AudioNote ANE's and I find them a better overall sound. 94db 6ohm nominal. I run them on a 8wpc 300b SET but honestly double that would be better.  
aldoallen
29 posts
 

I would suggest the Spatial Audio M3 Triode Master or M4 Triode Master depending on what size room you have. I own the M4 version and they fit your description to the tee.


Al

dsholl1
99 posts
 
Tannoy Prestige 
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