For years I have been seeking the sound that I heard many years ago. I had a pair of Stephens TruSonic 15" coaxial drivers in some huge cabinets powered by some McIntosh MC30's. The were way too klunky, and at my ripe age of 21 I sold the amps on ebay (in 1998) for $650 and traded the speakers (gasp) for a pair of mint KLH model 17 because they were smaller. After a decade of regret, I finally have rebuilt a system that I really love. I have a pair of Heathkit AA-61 14 watt tube amps powering my LaScalas, and it is wonderful. The LaScalas don't hit as low as the TruSonics, so I have a sub. After 3 months of heavy listening, I think I am quite satisfied. The LaScalas have Crites tweeters and Sonicaps (in one I recently installed Sonicap II bypass caps to see if I hear a difference). Source is either Vinyl on a 1200 with a modified Rega arm or mp3's (gasp) from my computer and soundcard. Preamp is a Bozak disco mixer that I rebuilt with Black Gate capacitors.
I used a Bryston 3B with these for a short period of time, but that is way too much power for these speakers. I have used some other amps with these too, but they are so sensitive, you need a very quiet amp. I think with the Heath's you gain a lot of sweetness and vivid detail. If you can find any of these amps, grab them. I would like to get another set if anyone has a pair available.
And nothing bad about the KLHs. My dog ate my 17s and then they were burnt up in a fire, but I recently got KLH model 6's for my second system and I love them too.
Main: 1980 LaScalas, Heathkit AA-61, Aragon 18K, Aragon 4T2, Technics 1200 MK2 with Modified Origin Live arm and Isonoe Footers, AT150Ti, Clearaudio Micro Basic.
System 2: Beveridge electrostatic speakers, Nad 2400, 2X Bozak CMA 10-2DL, 2 X Technics 1200 MK2, one with modded Rega RB-250, both with Grado DJ 200i cartridges. System 3: Snell KIII, Musical Fidelity A1, NI Audio 8 DJ, computer
Technics SLP-1200, Nakamichi 600