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Most tube friendly speakers?

Jailtime

Jailtime

Standin' on a corner
OK, I have 30 watts per channel @ 8 ohms of Fisher tube power to play with. What are the most tube friendly speakers out there? I've heard that speakers with low impedance drops are a nasty thing for tubes. Of course, I'd like something fairly efficient, and great (not just good) sound. :thmbsp: And the bass has to be good enough to keep up with Geddy Lee. :D :music: I've got some early EPI 100's (masonite inverted dome tweeter), good enough? :scratch2:
 
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In my experience, a folded horn like Klipsch. Khorns or LaScalas but the effort is $$$. I grew up with both and never figured out how my dad could afford them on a schoolteachers salary with 7 kids:no: I make waaaay more money than he did and I can't buy them but times have changed that much I guess...and not for the better.

J.R.
 
All depends on your budget, how loud you want them to go, if you can rebuild or refirbish, can you DIY......there are many choices depending.
 
With 30 watts.....you can run almost anything.
It's not like you have a 5 watt SE amp to deal with.

Steve
 
Look into Klipsch, just about everything they make is exceptionally efficient, and horns sound fantastic on Tubes. I have no issues whatsoever driving my KLF's (98db/watt) to stupid volumes on my 10wpc Class A PP, or my 18wpc SET. Your 30watt Fisher is a powerhouse by comparison.
 
I have a Fisher 202b integrated and also a SA-300 amp. Either one really has been up to powering whatever I've thrown at it. On the 202b, one thing that surprised me was how good Vandersteen 2a speakers sounded. But I've also read that the original vandies were more efficient than later ones, like the 2c. Even HPM-100s and JBL Centuries sounded good on it, though the bass was kind of tubby. The biggest surprise, however, was Infinity RS-6bs. The emit and the tubes LOVED each other.

I really haven't had a problem with either amp having enough oomph to drive a pair of speakers until I got into stuff like my big Dahlquist DQ-30s.
 
Use the center channel out for a powered sub and get some vintage infinitys. You get the best of both worlds with hard hitting bass and the nice clear highs of the infinitys. This combination sent all my klipsch speakers to new homes.
 
keeping price and availability in mind: Klipsch Cornwall, Frazier anything.

Many other great options out there. I've had the best experience with speakers from the same period as the amplifier... in other words, speakers that were voiced in the tube-era.
 
I am driving a pair of Canton Fonum 301DC's with a 35 wpc Dynaco ST70 and they sound fantastic. I know these are not the most efficient of speakers but given that I live in a small NYC apartment and can't play them at extremely loud levels this match up is very gratifying. Saying that, I would love to get my hands on a pair of Klipsch Heresy's but I don't think that idea would fly with the girlfriend!
 
Vintage Cornwalls and the Fisher 7591/7868 electronics complement each other very well. Dunno about the new-production Cornwall IIIs.

Low impedance is OK, but higher impedance loudspeakers will take better advantage of the output transformer's secondary winding. Your Fisher should have 4/8/16 ohm taps; feel free to try each tap with whatever speakers you choose; a 100% mismatch won't do any harm -- and remember that the impedance quoted for almost any dynamic (cone or dome driver) loudspeaker is a nominal value. You can listen to whatever tap sounds best to you.

Broad and flat impedance curves are good, but really only critical for amps with really low damping factors (i.e., fairly high output impedance), such as an amp with no NFB and/or a single-ended triode amp.

Tube amps are often far more tolerant of (stable towards) more reactive loads than are solid state amps. A classic example is the Quad ESL-57 electrostatic. These can be challenging loads for an SS amp (they're basically big capacitors); they can be heavenly with a tube amplifier. The Fisher isn't the optimal amp for a Quad ESL, but I think the combination would be very enjoyable (as long as you resist the temptation to crank it up).
 
My Dynaco A-25s and Klipsch Heresy IIs sound great with my Fisher 500-C (35 wpc). They sound quite different from each other, but both are sweet with Fisher tube power.
 
Jailtime, if you are looking for the widest range of speakers to use with your Fisher, then I'd recommend you have the power supply, coupling caps and the bias supply rebuild in it first.

I suspect we have quite a few folks struggling with matching speakers to a vintage tube amp that hasn't got the power supply strong enough to withstand wide-ranging impedance swings. Similarly, low-efficiency speakers can be used if the power supply can keep up far better with a solid power supply pushing the amp. This latter item, however, is still dependent on the size of your room and how loud you listen.

For instance, my little Mac MC-225 (25wpc) will run you out of a large living room with some JBL theater speakers. It will also push my Quad ESL63s very nicely in the same room but not quite to the same volume levels, which is understandable. In either case, sonic qualities are not compromised. This would not be the case if I had not rebuilt the Mac amp first. Prior to rebuild, imaging would wander in and out, and the bass was flabby and muddled. Not so now! Bass slam is solid and imaging takes in the whole room.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

David
 
My first choice would be LaScala's. Then forte's, then my Wharfedales. Well, maybe not, maybe my Wharfedales first. It would depend on what type of music you are going to listen too.

For the classic rock I think LaScala's carry ex bass. For vocals and Jazz, you cannot, I repeat, cannot beat my Wharf's.

Mark
 
I grew up listening to my fathers Wharfedale W60's and his Pilot tube receiver.
Brings back a lot of memories....................


Steve
 
The 800C is fully recapped, new rectifier, everything adjusted and modified where necessary. It's also got a fresh set of EH 7591 outputs. Just FYI. Looks like the Klipsch speakers are very popular, but they're sort of expensive. I'll need some CL luck soon...
 
I run two sets of speakers that I'm really happy with off of a kt-88 based mono-blocked system.


The first are Bottlehead strait 8's, the second are Kinetic Audio Efficiency's. Both are highly efficient, and I could recommend either.
 
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