Suggestions for high efficiency speakers?


I attended the Capital Audiofest and thought the Audio Note room had the best sound to my ears. Another attendee from Florida had a copy of "A Night in Tunisia" and it sounded like you were sitting in Art Blakey's chair with his drums right there in front of you. I want that palpability, that "you are there" sound I think low watt amps and high efficiency speakers deliver better than any other combination.

 

A couple years ago I heard the DeVore 96s at the same show and loved their sound, anyone know of other speakers that give the same sensations?

 

My system is a SOTA Sapphire w Sumiko MMT and Zu-modified Denon 103 into an Art Audio Vinyl One phono pre into a Lamm LL2 Deluxe pre into an Art Audio Jota SET power amp and into Joseph RM25 sigs.

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I've owned a pair of Klipsch Heresy IIIs for a while and tried replacing them (out of curiosity) with Heresy...didn't like the sound of the new poly horn so they were outta here (the IIIs have a completely different mid horn throat design using titanium drivers)...I also tried a pair of ZU Dirty Weekends and they also fell short of the IIIs. Suffice to say I apologized to the IIIs and am keeping 'em. They're the Capitol Records 75th Anniversary version bought new as an "open box" deal for around 1500 bucks...hard to beat with a couple of subs, and they're relatively small for a horn based speaker.

I am partial towards Klipsch's Heritage Line... The Cornwalls are an amazing speaker due to the size.  I wish I had space for LaScala or even the Klispchorn.  SIZE MATTERS (due to physics I think).. :)  

I've been pleased with the Heresy IVs and a sub paired with a Raven Nighthawk. 
Smallish living room and they work well even though I have multiple openings and a staircase off the room.

Hi, If you loved Audio Note at the show, why not buy an Audio Note system. I have one fully integrated AN system (amp, speakers, cables, etc) and get that same feeling you described every day...

One more reason to go with Audio Note:  There stuff retains its value, so it is not quite as expensive to trade-up when you  decide to improve your system.  They don't make much changes to their gear just for the sake of churning the market, so the older stuff remains current for a longer period of time.