Wanted: suggestions for SOTA 93db+ efficient speakers & less than $50k

banpuku

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2010
32
45
1,573
MN
Hello,

I need your help. I am looking for new speakers and quite honestly, I am wide open to suggestions. Please allow me to share my current system and room specs:

Gates CB-500 turntable (rebuilt)
EMT JPA-66 pre-amp
Experience Music GM70 SET monoblocks (20W / channel class A)
Quad ESL-63 speakers (86db efficiency)

Room dimensions
12W x 23D x 9H

Listening position is about 8' away from speakers. I listen to chamber music about 90% of the time. That said, I still love my 60s, 70s and 80s classic rock and some jazz. Most important personal tastes / traits for loudspeakers are 1) life-like dynamics 2) tonal balance 3) imaging. With my Quads, the tonal balance and imaging are very good, however dynamics are limited and they don't play very loud when I listen to classic rock.

So, I am seeking a new pair of speakers with efficiency of 93db or greater. Hoping that the incremental 7db (Quads are only 86db) will help with lifelike sound level in my smallish room. My amps are very neutral and have excellent imaging and dynamics. Hoping to match the amps with an efficient speaker that is very transparent with no/limited tonal anomalies. I am satisfied with 30-40hz bass. Don't need 20hz. I prefer a smaller footprint for the speakers as room size is limited. The ideal speaker will excel at violin, viola and cello with startling dynamics and transients.

Would like to keep the price range below $50k retail.

Any input / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pat
 

OnionRings

New Member
May 8, 2019
1
0
1
33
Hello,

I need your help. I am looking for new speakers and quite honestly, I am wide open to suggestions. Please allow me to share my current system and room specs:

Gates CB-500 turntable (rebuilt)
EMT JPA-66 pre-amp
Experience Music GM70 SET monoblocks (20W / channel class A)
Quad ESL-63 speakers (86db efficiency)

Room dimensions
12W x 23D x 9H

Listening position is about 8' away from speakers. I listen to chamber music about 90% of the time. That said, I still love my 60s, 70s and 80s classic rock and some jazz. Most important personal tastes / traits for loudspeakers are 1) life-like dynamics 2) tonal balance 3) imaging. With my Quads, the tonal balance and imaging are very good, however dynamics are limited and they don't play very loud when I listen to classic rock.

So, I am seeking a new pair of speakers with efficiency of 93db or greater. Hoping that the incremental 7db (Quads are only 86db) will help with lifelike sound level in my smallish room. My amps are very neutral and have excellent imaging and dynamics. Hoping to match the amps with an efficient speaker that is very transparent with no/limited tonal anomalies. I am satisfied with 30-40hz bass. Don't need 20hz. I prefer a smaller footprint for the speakers as room size is limited. The ideal speaker will excel at violin, viola and cello with startling dynamics and transients.

Would like to keep the price range below $50k retail.

Any input / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pat

Hey Pat,

I currently have a system that is over 100db/W
I have listened to ML, Magico, JL, B&W, Mclintosh, Canton and a bunch of other odd ones.

Horns are great at doing what you are looking for when they are designed properly like any speaker. FTL horns is something worth looking for.
You can get sensitivities upward of 100db+/ W across the frequencies you are looking for with a flat response.
If you are not afraid to go custom, it is the way to go and you can get the most bang for your buck.

I would personally look into Kravchenko Audio as he can do beautiful cabinets and have done design work for Funk Audio. The 6.1s and 8.2 image very well and they are his design. The reputation is well established also in Avsforum.
I have personally have listened to them and their subs and personally. Additionally, I have also listened to the mobile tweeter as well which my dad purchased, they are clean precise and very efficient. You can find that on the DIYMobile audio forums and what other people say about them. Finding them used now are hard and price for the used are sometimes higher than the original selling price and have been compared to 1k+ tweets.

Here's some info:
Company: http://www.kravchenko-audio.com/
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjhL86Eih-SnTPGByh9RfKw/videos
KAXBLTWT: http://www.kravchenko-audio.com/kaxbltwt.html
Sold in like 1 minute: https://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/car-audio-classifieds/351058-kaxbltwt.html
What other people think: https://www.diymobileaudio.com/foru...8369-kaxbltwt-owners-how-you-like-them-3.html

They also sell active systems so you would not have losses thru the passive crossovers resulting in a high efficiency, dynamic and very detailed system. Clean bass systems can also be made here for your classical needs. ie, low harmonic distortion, great decay, you get drums that sound like real drums and deep frequencies that are produced properly and not another note.

You will be dealing with a guy that understands drivers, woodworking and design directly.
Personally I'll be getting custom horns from there as well after getting a custom room built.

Hope this helps
 
Last edited:

Bodhi

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2014
1,051
361
155
GT Audio Works are currently developing a Reference 7ft tall 3-way planar magnetic/ribbon panel speaker which will be circa $50k, and around 96db efficient into a 6 ohm load. In terms of bass extension, they will be in the range you mentioned. Although these speakers will be tall, they will be no wider than a Magnepan 3.7i, and will work well in smaller rooms being a linesource speaker with a dipole radiating pattern. That means you get minimal floor to ceiling bounce, and minimal side wall interaction. Usually all that is required is some bass traps behind the speakers. Stillpoints Aperture II panels or Acoustic Revive RWL-3 panels would work well as they combine absorbtion and diffusion. They're aiming to debut the new speakers at Capital AudioFest in November. These will be stunning speakers, though it would depend on whether you're patient enough to wait 6 months.

Otherwise @$17.5k the current GTA3r panels would be a good choice, and are a high end bargain imho. They are a crossoverless 2-way planar magnetic/ribbon panel with just one high grade cap for the tweeter. The main bass/midrange planar ribbon driver operates from 40 Hz to 6kHz, with the ribbon tweeter extending to 30kHz. So in terms of transparency and coherence, it doesn't get much better than that. Note: these panels do not require subs, though you can later add the Sound Insight open baffle servo-controlled subwoofers which are modular and start from $5995 for the SI200 subs, and add further modules when/if you require. At the recent Axpona they got their GTA3r panels with SI300 open baffle servo subs to work terrifically in only a small room. My only reservation is your SET mono's might be a bit on the lean side driving the GTA3r panels. The future 3-way Reference panels will be more tube-friendly @96db into 6 ohms.
 
Last edited:

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
IMHO impedance ranks in being critical as much as efficiency when analyzing compatibility with SET amplifiers, that traditionally are feedback free and have high output impedance. Unfortunately impedance means a curve with amplitude and phase versus frequency, not a general single figure.

And yes, the ELS63 are very hard to beat in chamber music...
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
GT Audio Works are currently developing a Reference 7ft tall 3-way planar magnetic/ribbon panel speaker which will be circa $50k, and around 96db efficient into a 6 ohm load. In terms of bass extension, they will be in the range you mentioned. ...minimal floor to ceiling bounce, and minimal side wall interaction. Usually ... Stillpoints Aperture II panels or Acoustic Revive RWL-3 panels would work well as they combine absorbtion and diffusion...

Sounds pretty amazing...would like to know more about these. Any additional information on these?
 

mwmkravchenko

Member
Mar 22, 2016
1
0
16
Hi Pat.

It looks like you want a passive version of our 8.7 design. That is is the mid $40k range depending on veneering options.
 

banpuku

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2010
32
45
1,573
MN
Thank you, everyone, for your replies. I will investigate all the recommendations plus some other from friends in the industry. I will report back. Exciting times!
 

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