Digging deeper into speaker specs

[AJSki2fly]

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4. The heavier the cabinet or the more rigid it is can result in less colouration to the sound and more accurate and musical it will tend to be.

I think I agree with everything you said except your point that lack of colouration/rigid cabinet => musicality.

I don't think I made what I was trying to say very clear, it was meant to be a generalisation, not an absolute. In my experience a heavier and more rigid cabinet leads to a a better result overall, however I do recognise there are exceptions to this. What I was trying to get across was that a vibrating cabinet will colour the sound in some way, obviously if it is designed to do so then it may be part of the end result. I hope that makes some sense.

[Octopoida42]

What valve amp are you using?

What max size of speaker cabinet are you limited to?

What is the room size in feet?

Are there any speaker placement limitations?

Some of us on here can probably give you some good pointers, there are several well respected USA speaker manufacturers that build efficient units that work well with Valve amps.

The main listening space in my room is about 16x24ft with 8ft ceilings, it is a somewhat open floor plan apartment with carpeted floors. Speakers are going to be fairly close to the wall, probably max about 12-15" between back of speaker and wall. As for speaker size, I am less concerned about height than depth; none of the speakers in the price range I have been looking are more than about 42" tall, which is perfectly fine.

I am using a Primaluna tube amp (40wpc) and I recently heard some Monitor Audio Silver 300s with that amp at the dealer and loved the combo. They look great too. Only problem is they were a fair bit above what I wanted to spend. Considering the Silver 200s, looking at some NOS Silver 6s that are a good price, and am intrigued by the PSB Imagine X1T and X2T (though they might be too deep for my space) as well as the QA Concept 40. Was suggested to me to check out the Tannoy Revolution 6 as well. I was really interested in trying the ELAC Uni-FI UF5 but the are rather inefficient (85dB) and probably not a good match with the tubes.

One of the reasons I was curious to ask more about things like frequency response is that the Concept 40s are rated down to 55Hz but none of the reviews I see (professional or in various forums) have any bad things to say about the low end. Compared to the Silver 300s that I have heard which go to 32 Hz, supposedly. Just trying to suss things out and narrow the list with limited auditioning options. Im also just generally curious how this whole hobby works.

Generally I am interested in speakers that are neutral or leaning a little to the warm side. I compared some Klipsch to the Silver 300s and realized I hated the Klipsch sound, was shrill on the high end and really didn't agree with me.

[Pharos]

I came across a lot of M A s on ebay yesterday, some bronzes.

[Haselsh1]

Hey up Andrew, even if you shop demo you are going to get a different sound in your home. This really is a black art.

[AJSki2fly]

The main listening space in my room is about 16x24ft with 8ft ceilings, it is a somewhat open floor plan apartment with carpeted floors. Speakers are going to be fairly close to the wall, probably max about 12-15" between back of speaker and wall. As for speaker size, I am less concerned about height than depth; none of the speakers in the price range I have been looking are more than about 42" tall, which is perfectly fine.

I am using a Primaluna tube amp (40wpc) and I recently heard some Monitor Audio Silver 300s with that amp at the dealer and loved the combo. They look great too. Only problem is they were a fair bit above what I wanted to spend. Considering the Silver 200s, looking at some NOS Silver 6s that are a good price, and am intrigued by the PSB Imagine X1T and X2T (though they might be too deep for my space) as well as the QA Concept 40. Was suggested to me to check out the Tannoy Revolution 6 as well. I was really interested in trying the ELAC Uni-FI UF5 but the are rather inefficient (85dB) and probably not a good match with the tubes.

One of the reasons I was curious to ask more about things like frequency response is that the Concept 40s are rated down to 55Hz but none of the reviews I see (professional or in various forums) have any bad things to say about the low end. Compared to the Silver 300s that I have heard which go to 32 Hz, supposedly. Just trying to suss things out and narrow the list with limited auditioning options. Im also just generally curious how this whole hobby works.

Generally I am interested in speakers that are neutral or leaning a little to the warm side. I compared some Klipsch to the Silver 300s and realized I hated the Klipsch sound, was shrill on the high end and really didn't agree with me.

OK, so looking at what you are looking at your budget is up to £1.2K or $1.6K.

The MA Audio 300s are likely to struggle with the lower end in your room being 3054cu ft, based on some review comments. Also you say 12-15" max from rear walls, with rear ported speakers this is likely cause bass boom, certainly from my experience. I personally would go for forward or bottom ported, alternatively horn loaded (did you listen to Heritage Klipsch Heresy III, although these are out of your budget, a 2nd hand pair could be an option).

Based on your amp, room size and "leaning a little to the warm side" I would try and listen to some Tannoy Cheviots or Eatons, and some JBL L100's or similar JBL's, now all these new are well over your budget but having listened to them if you like any of them, which I would be surprised if you did not, then hunt a pair down second hand, you should be able to get a good pair for under $2K. You will get much better SQ for you bucks if you take this approach.

By the way 40wpc is more than enough, I presume you have the EVO 200 or 100, these are pretty good valve amps and should give you a good result with some decent speakers. Most people will rarely use more than 1 watt when listening at normal listening levels around 80dB, beyond that and it will all be getting pretty loud.

[fatmarley]

Hey up Andrew, even if you shop demo you are going to get a different sound in your home. This really is a black art.

Yep, found this out the hard way.

[Octopoida42]

Thanks AJ and Marley. One of the reasons I want to stick to working with the store I am currently working with is to have that option of returning if it doesnt work out in my space.

I will check out those other speakers. I have been thinking of trying to stick with front ported, didn't think as much about the bottom port. It will probably work out better.

I do have the Evo100 and it is a lovely amp. Im not worried about the power rating, but want to try and stick to more efficient speakers just in case.

[gizze]

I came across a lot of M A s on ebay yesterday, some bronzes.

I have had a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze BR2 speakers sat in a cupboard for about a year or so.

I bought a Marantz PM7003 amp from someone to use with some P3 -ESRs that I wanted to use in the office, they were advertised with the amp and a CD7000 or something, I made an offer on the amp only and the seller said fine, and when I went and grabbed them he said you can have the cd player and the speakers anyway. OK cheers.
Gave CD player to someone and shoved the speakers in a cupboard.

Anyway, long story short, I pulled them out the other day as I was selling my Spendors and waiting for the new Spendors to arrive.
They are are seriously impressive.
They go down low, they are well balanced, they are refined and only start to loose it a bit in the upper mids when played pretty damned loud, but they sound seriously impressive.
I have had loads of speakers in that room over the last 3 or so years, many at 10x the price or more, since I moved away from the Meridian DSPs and these little MA BR2s that retailed at under £300 I think, are some of the best.

To be honest I am gutted I didn't try them sooner!

I would now like to hear their gold range with the ribbons.