2a3's vs. 45's

[denti alligator]

You talking about me or the OP? My Klipsch are 99db.

 

[galyons]

Matching to speakers is critical with SET's.  An easy load can offset  lower sensitivity in some cases.  Low sensitivity and impedence picks  are not a good match.

I have a pair of Gallo Nucleus, the original 1 ball speakers with the capacitive tweeter.  There is no crossover.  They are extremely easy to drive and 90dB/1w/1m.  300B great, 2a3 actually pretty good, the 45's did well on female vocals, small ensemble jazz and chamber music.  My room is a bit largish, 16X40 with a cathedral ceiling 14'.  IMO the key is no weird crossover issues and/or impedance peaks. 

My buddy has Thiel CS3's, 89dB/1w/1m and none of the above amps, (nor my 40w 6L6GC PSE amps)  sounded good...pinched frequency range and thin bleached timbre.  Thiel crossovers are fairly complex and they were not a good match with any of my tubes amps, although almost, (to me), listenable with Rogue Audio Magnum M150's.  He is a sand guy, but wanted to hear the Thiels with tubes.  He is now looking to replace the Thiels.

As in all things, YMMV....

Cheers,
Geary

 

[johnsonad]

At Sam, that was directed at the OP.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

So 45>300B>2a3 ?

That may not really mean all that much.  The 71A and the 10Y are wonderful DHT's as well, but even harder to match to speakers than the 45. 

It's tough to tell if TJ is producing more 45's.  The EML's are quite nice, and old stock is still pretty well available.

 

[ALL212]

Gee...darn...I'll have to get some new speakers...bummer.  I'm all broke up...this is terrible...worst thing ever...

;D  SWEEEETTT!!!!  ;D


This appears to be a new journey for me.  I am going to start with what I have and 2A3's.  Once proper speakers are found then I'll change the amp to run the 45's and see what happens next.

Since I'm the OP can I change the topic...oh, that's already been predicted  !!  How about the kits on Madisound with the Fostex drivers - folded horns, no crossover, full range?

I really do appreciate the input - this is a new journey for me and I'm really looking forward to this!!

 

[johnsonad]

Go big or go home. You may find happiness with the Madisound cabs and Fostex drivers (I didn't) but once I found the big Altec's I didn't look back. Think GPA 604's, 19's, or Valencia's if you go big.  There are other routes but I'm an Altec fan and biased

 

[Paully]

I am with Johnsonad, go big, but we are Bottleheads so we do care about value too.  There are lots of threads on speakers but Blumenstein is loved around here (needs a subwoofer), Klipsch is a great and reasonably priced option especially if you pay attention to the overlooked models like Chorus II (had a pair of those, liked them a lot) and of course us Altec lovers will tell you you are stoned if you don't love them too.  Altec quality is well respected even if they don't trip your trigger.  I have a pair of Model 19s and I am done for the foreseeable future.

As far as Madisound and that whole concept goes, I don't know.

 

[ALL212]

You guys ever heard of "WAF"?  :

'Tis part of my equation for success...

 

[johnsonad]

Lol, good luck with that! My wife is happy with my monster 19's which in many ways makes me a lucky man. You could consider a 604 in a Stonehenge cab possibly.

 

[Paully]

Ah, the dreaded WAF, you are obviously in the living room.  My section of the basement allows me a lot of latitude.  Well, Madisound have a smaller footprint, Klipsch Heresy, Blumenstein are beautiful and small and you can stick the subwoofer off to the side somewhere.  Anyway, the archives are your friend here and on audioasylum.  Good luck!

 

[2wo]

Never had a chance to play with the Altecs but I keep coming back to my Hornshoppe horns.
If you go back to considering the BK-16 I think the horns would be an upgrade. 

 

[Grainger49]

I picked up Paully's Valencias.  They were about 15 miles from my house.  I wrestled them up to my listening room and they almost went from wall to wall.  Well, they were about 4 feet apart but you couldn't walk around them and the stereo very well. 

Never mind WAF they just didn't fit my room.

 

[rusty-jade]

I built my Stereomour as a 2A3, then I modified it to the 45.  In terms of comparison, I find the 45 to be more "subtle" in the sense that when you listen to jazz or vocals, you can hear all the different instruments more clearly than the 2A3.  Of course, you will need a suitably pair of speakers with sufficient sensitivity.  I am currently using a pair of Tekton Lore - 98 db which are very easy to drive.  The choice of music also matters.  The 45 is in my view ideal for jazz.  I have found that for full orchestra classical music, both the 2A3 and the 45 and even the 300B is not sufficient, ( I owned a 300B/2A3 amp and I preferred the 2A3 to the 300B), and sometimes I revert back to a push-pull amp for this musical genre.  Perhaps a quality sub will help in such a case to get to sub-bass sounds of a full orchestra.  I recently replaced the 45 tubes ( GEs)  with JJ 2A3s with the Stereomour in the 45 configuration.  While the JJ 2A3s were louder, I preferred the 45 and switched back after a few days.  Hope this helps.

 

[jrebman]

Aaron,

I'd think that the Madisound BK-12 would be a great place to start for not too much money.

If you'd be interested in a set of Orcas, drop me a PM.

Eitheir of these would also work nicely with the quickie/ACA amps too.

-- Jim

 

[johnsonad]

Jim, you are probably right on size and waf for the Madisound boxes. I wasn't too impressed by the pair I had. Maybe the Orchas will be a better fit but I can't comment on their sound.

 

[Paully]

Grainger and I can comment on the Orcas, and they are wonderful.  But you need a sub.  There is also a very long thread in the forum about said speakers.

 

[jrebman]

Too many Aarons -- the OP is an Aaron as wel .

I'm just going on the comments another BH friend of mine made about the bk-12 which he was able to drive to very loud levels with his s.e.x. 2.1, and which he preferred to the other fostex speakers he had or heard. With the fostex drivers, there does really seem to be more magic with the smaller drivers, at least to my ears. Of course it is not anywhere near the orcas, but for $300/pair they are a really great place to start with SD speakers.

BTW, the Orcas I have also have a sub and sub amp in the package.

-- Jim