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Best High Efficiency Speakers

wcarpenter said:
Sebrof: The Zu speakers are sounding increasingly appealing. Big and dynamic is a sound I like, though the ability to do late night chill is also a must. The Tone Audio review of the Essences and the miniwatt is what originally turned me onto the Zu-Miniwatt pairing. I think they would go well together. I also notice you're a fellow Austinite! Thats my home, too, when I'm not at school. Any audio stores I should check out when I'm home in two weeks? Whetstone doesn't have much in the way of efficient speakers. Great store, though.
Coming home for spring break? Bring a sweater...Oh, never mind. It will be warm by March (it's 73 degrees as I write this). I lived in VT from '91 - '97 so I know all about winter (I lived in Burrrr-lington).
There is Audio Systems on Lamar, but they really don't have any hi eff stuff either. Hi end audio is a niche, and hi eff is a small niche within a niche, so it's rare to find what you're looking for in a store. You may be able to find some of the Klipsch stuff around town though.

http://www.audiosystems.com/
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Coytee said:
I had a pair of Klipsch LaScalas AND a pair of Electrovoice Interface D's in my college dorm. I also had a double wide stereo rack with other goodies.

I'd say, listen to what you like and within the realm of what you like, get what you think will work best for you.

I personally ignore the logic of 'they won't fit' as I did it. My dorm was (guessing) 15x20? I don't remember. There was two of us, bunked our beds and we had two dressers and two desks. This was before the speakers.

Today, I still have those speakers (30 years later) and I've never had to upgrade them. Indeed, the LaScalas are currently hooked up today in my basement. I reconfigured things this past weekend, unhooking them from the very Yamaha receiver I used in my dorm room.

You can make what ever you want work as long as you can live with the reality of it. I knew college was short term for me so I bought some long term speakers.
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Awesome story! I second your approach towards implementing big horns.:yes:
 
Epi

You might look into some EPI microtower 2's or especially 3's very efficient. The 3's stand around 36 inches 12 inch per side 4 woofers 2 tweeters mounted up high. They are omni directional and are column resonators pretty rare. Good bass and really good sound all around, and would make great rears someday in 5.1. We ran the mt 1 set up on a glass display case with a battery transistor radio tucked up inside the column and people could not figure out how it worked.

http://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epi-mt3.htm
 
I think you want those Zu speakers...

wcarpenter said:
I also notice you're a fellow Austinite! Thats my home, too, when I'm not at school
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Austin used to be my home for 30+ years. Just got back from SXSW which was awesome! Happy not to face those summers anymore. :)
 
I think that my Polk Monitor 30's and PSW10 subwoofer might do well with a low powered unit because the sub is self powered (50 watts). The space required is less than you would need with a larger floor standing system. I'm using them in a 12x14 room, the Monitor 30 speakers are wall mounted and the sub woofer fits in the stereo cabinet. The sub-woofer takes up some space, but it's not too big. Just a thought.
 
What did you ever do about speakers? With your amp you may want to try Cain & Cain Abbeys. I have a pair and love them. They sound great at a low volumn and the price on the used market is a great deal.
 
The Abbeys look really neat, though they may be a bit tall for my application. I'll have to do some more research. The absence of a tweeter concerns me a little bit, though. Thanks for the recommendation, though.

I went to my local Zu dealer, and heard the Miniwatt with the Omens. They really made a great pair. They filled a fairly large room very easily. I was particularly surprised by the bass reproduction. During Radio Head's Lucky there is a passage with with very very deep bass and the Minwatt/Zu combo handled it very well. I was very impressed with the set up and am very tempted to go ahead and buy them. I wish I could here more options, though!
 
Minimus 7s and a powered sub....then you will have about $980 dollars left over for the really important stuff, like the Drink And Drown night down at the local college public house.
Any one else remember drink and drown?
I have powered the 7s with 6BM8 tubes (about 4 watts) to moderate levels...sounds pretty nice to me...however my Motorola does have a bass channel which supplies the low end. Another cheapo Realistic Speaker that is larger but has a great high and mid range with tubes (IMO) is the Nova 10b but you will need a sub.
Forgive me for mentioning Realistic but you seem pretty cool since you listen to Radiohead.
 
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I will heartily recommend the Wharfedale E Series. 93dB at 1 Watt, and a lovely balanced sound to these ears. Size wise, they vary from almost small (E.30) up to what I'll call large (E.90)

My flat has a set of E.90s playing stands to a set of E.50s. The E.90s get used in the singular more often than I cane both sets together (just thinking of the amp!) but I can honestly say they work fabulously for me, and i wouldn't change them unless they were irreparable.

Of course, this is just my tuppence worth!

Can't show you a picture of the room, as someone seems to have consumed the camera!

Good luck!

Dan:banana:
 
wcarpenter said:
Given the amplifier I have, I'd have to give up deep bass. I'm not looking for earth shattering bass, but I'd rather the music not sound anemic.
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Why would you give up deep Bass? A speakers Freq. responce is measured at 1 watt. If a speaker has a freq. responce of 45 - 20,000 Hz +/- 3 db, with 95 db/w speakers you'll get 92 db of deep bass at 1w with your amp. The quality of the bass is dependant on that of the amp. You'll get at least 3 db more than that with such speakers from youre amp, thats pretty loud.

you might want to check out Oaktree.com. they sell vintage, reconditioned, garrentied speakers.
 
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Before buying the Zus do a search here and read some threads like this one:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=267666

IMO you'd be better off getting some small Tannoy bookshelves which are horn driven and thus efficient, but not super high compression horns so not shrill, smooth, dynamic and have a flat frequency respinse between 55 and 18,000 hz. Filled in with a small high quality sub you'd have a remarkably good dorm system, IMO. Also good in high efficiency speakers IMO are the 80s era JBL studio monitors like 4408s.
 
Curse said:
I will heartily recommend the Wharfedale E Series. 93dB at 1 Watt, and a lovely balanced sound to these ears. Size wise, they vary from almost small (E.30) up to what I'll call large (E.90)
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Not a bad idea! Forgot about those -- ruthlessly efficient, and sound nice. Made during an era when efficient speakers were no longer the norm, they weren't as popular as Wharfedale had hoped, so they go cheaper than they should (at least they used to). The footprint on them would be just about right for you, too. If I was in your situation, I think I'd keep on the lookout for a pair from this series -- much nicer sound than many mentioned here, IMHO. :)
 
The Zus seem to be an oddly polarizing speaker. In all honesty, I have a hard time understanding the hostility. I've read a number of threads and the negative opinions just don't line up with what I've heard. "I found they had an amazing lack of bass, terrible imaging, shrill, phasey, driving an icepick into your ears sound." I have a hard time believing we were listening to even similar speakers! The Omens were quite bassy and not at all shrill or phasey. The imaging was less than pinpoint precise, but they threw a stable center image and a had plenty of soundstage for me. I guess I have relatively untrained ears by virtue of my age, but I've heard a lot of great (and terrible) audio gear in my life. Some of it was definitely better than the Zu stuff, but all so at a much higher price.

I totally understand the quest for absolute tonal fidelity, but given the starting point of my amp, its not a realistic goal for this particular set up. When I heard the Omens with the MiniWatt, I had a great time! Listening was fun. I really enjoyed them. I'm totally open to other options, but I'd love to head off the relentless Zu negativity I've run into on this forum. Aural preference is a very real thing and debating it on the internet just gets everyone pissed off. Studio monitors aren't my thing. I've heard them and moved on. They have their place, but my dorm room isn't it.

The Wharfedales sound really great. I'll keep my eye out for them. Where's the best place to look for something of that nature?

The ADS look pretty great too. That particular model looks absolutely huge, but a smaller model would be a definite contender. My father grew up of ADS and Mac, so I'm well aware of their excellence. I'll keep my eye open for a pair of those.

Thanks for all of the help guys!
 
My problem with the Druids as someone studying audio engineering is the 15 db suckout at around 150 hz. That means objective speaking a large part of the sound of the bass and drums is missing in action. The fact any manufacturer would release a speaker that drastically inaccurate to the market as a "high end" product when it measures worse than a speaker on a cheap mini system makes me regard Zu in general with deep suspicion. The frequency response graph on this page says it all IMO

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=267666

that engineering for an accurate sound isn't Zu's first priority. They are just another Bose for the pretentious high end crowd IMO.

IMO one of the positive things we can do here on audiokarma is pool our vast experience and do our best to inform people new to audio what the most rational choice is to meet their needs.
 
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Much of the hostility towards Zu comes from their....uh....."creative" advertising claims which defy Hoffman's Iron Law. That makes many people consider them incompetent at best and perhaps dishonest at worst and thus reject their product out of hand.
 
barredowl said:
My problem with the Druids as someone studying audio engineering is the 15 db suckout at around 150 hz. That means objective speaking a large part of the sound of the bass and drums is missing in action. The fact any manufacturer would release a speaker that drastically inaccurate to the market as a "high end" product when it measures worse than a speaker on a cheap mini system makes me regard Zu in general with deep suspicion. The frequency response graph on this page says it all IMO

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=267666

that engineering for an accurate sound isn't Zu's first priority. They are just another Bose for the pretentious high end crowd IMO.

IMO one of the positive things we can do here on audiokarma is pool our vast experience and do our best to inform people new to audio what the most rational choice is to meet their needs.
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I was over at a fellow's place last week and he had a pair of Zu "Druid" speakers in perhaps the worst situation imaginable. His apartment was small and very narrow, so that you could only sit back maybe 4-5 feet from them. It's a known fact that the "Druids" will sound "much" better if you sit some distance from them...approximately 3 miles would be my choice.

Anyway, I listened to a couple of songs through them and suddenly remembered I had a meeting the next day. I excused myself and left.

If the Druids are to your general liking, you may decide to upgrade to a pair of White Van's.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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