As a "former audiophile" who burned out in the 1990s, I haven't had anything resembling trendy or current audio gear in quite some time. I've been getting by with old Dynaco tube electronics, old Quad "57" Electrostatics, and affordable source components.
The old Quads have deteriorated with time and I just can't be bothered to invest in restoring them, I'm kind of sick of their dynamic limitations and fragile nature. I'd been driving the Quads with a Dynakit Stereo-35 amplifier, a little 17.5W/channel EL84 tube amp, 'cause they wouldn't handle much more power than that anyway. I've been looking for some acceptable speakers on eBait, particularly Spendor BC1s or SP1s, but those always end up going for silly high prices.
I finally managed to snag something reasonable, a pair of Rogers LS7T speakers, no one else even bid against me. They arrived today and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. Okay they're not Harbeths, but I'd rate them somewhere between, say, Spendor Preludes and Spendor SP1s. The biggest surprise, though, is that the Stereo-35 seems to drive them pretty well. I don't know what the rated sensitivity is, but these boxes are definitely tube-friendly. I was prepared to have to swap out to one of my larger Dyna tube amps, either a Stereo-70 or pair of MkIIIs, or even the 160W Altec 1570B triode amps. I'll probably try a bigger amp eventually, but for now the little guy is doing a surprisingly good job.
As a "former audiophile" who burned out in the 1990s, I haven't had anything resembling trendy or current audio gear in quite some time. I've been getting by with old Dynaco tube electronics, old Quad "57" Electrostatics, and affordable source components.
The old Quads have deteriorated with time and I just can't be bothered to invest in restoring them, I'm kind of sick of their dynamic limitations and fragile nature. I'd been driving the Quads with a Dynakit Stereo-35 amplifier, a little 17.5W/channel EL84 tube amp, 'cause they wouldn't handle much more power than that anyway. I've been looking for some acceptable speakers on eBait, particularly Spendor BC1s or SP1s, but those always end up going for silly high prices.
I finally managed to snag something reasonable, a pair of Rogers LS7T speakers, no one else even bid against me. They arrived today and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. Okay they're not Harbeths, but I'd rate them somewhere between, say, Spendor Preludes and Spendor SP1s. The biggest surprise, though, is that the Stereo-35 seems to drive them pretty well. I don't know what the rated sensitivity is, but these boxes are definitely tube-friendly. I was prepared to have to swap out to one of my larger Dyna tube amps, either a Stereo-70 or pair of MkIIIs, or even the 160W Altec 1570B triode amps. I'll probably try a bigger amp eventually, but for now the little guy is doing a surprisingly good job.