High value, high efficiency speakers for SET amps

I do not own the Lore Reference, but the M-Lore and Lore. In general, my Lores, though different from the brief trial Rebbi had with the Lore Reference, DO NOT sound anything like what he described in my long-term experience with my two Lores. I believe they generally have a family sound and presentation.
As stated previously, not one of the many, more than eight Reviewers from respected magazines or Web sites such as Enjoy The Music, Stereo Mojo, 6 Moons (Tim Smith, the writer even piped in here), Stereotimes, Wall-of-Sound, Part-Time-Audiophile, and so on thought the various Lores were in anything like weak in the areas Rebbi described; frankly, quite opposite. Enjoy the Music used the Lore Referece and gave it it's Blue Note Award. No one in any review agrees with Rebbi comments and neither do I. Last night I listened to Roy Orbison, All-Time Greatest Hits on Monument, from the original masters. The soundstage was deeply layered, wall-to-wall wide (14 feet), with very good height, natural organic flow, each instrument and voice properly placed with uncanny realism. Orbison was center, back-up singers came out in proper scale/distance from Orbison, left, right, center, way behind depending on mix. Nuance! You want nuance, this was it! In all my experience with these speakers I have never/ever had a flat soundstage.

Rebbi, your review here is disingenuous to me. Again, it is contrary to the aggregate of respected Reviewers, my experience. To give you a big benefit of doubt I think you were rushed, had the owner of the Reference hovering over you. Plus, you don't seem to have particularly good speaker wire or interconnects. At this juncture I really hope you do not buy Tekton. The Omega's at $3,000 plus will likely get you to where you want to be, or some others speaker. Save your money, make a bigger jump. In the meantime I'll laugh my evil laugh knowing the M-Lore gets 93-96% of the Devore 0/96 ($12,000) for peanuts in comparison. I'll also likely spend that much as I'm as much an audio fool as the next guy.

Its hard to get perfect results much less be certain of everything in a rushed audition. There are many reasons why one hears what they hear in any particular case.

Apparently whatever Rebbi heard was convincing since the old speakers are gone.

Regarding Tekton delivering much of what one might get for a lot more, I do believe that we become conditioned to have a bias against less expensive products that actually sound quite good as a result of being constantly exposed to bigger, fancier, more expensive alternatives.

Also I think after a while one has to split some hairs to make a determination of what is best whereas the reality is that there no conclusive evidence that indicates ANY audio product offered at any price is truly best.

Time always tells. Be it women speakers amps or whatever whatever tends to stick around the longest is probably the best for you. First impressions can only go so far.

Hey but if not for all that, what would there be left for us all to talk about here? It all serves a purpose I suppose.

Tubegroover,
Thanks a lot for the nice comments. I appreciate it.

SMcTigue,
I suspect that a great deal of this is, in fact, about the synergy between a particular amplifier and a particular speaker. There are so many variables here, including one's room acoustics, listening habits and preferred musical material. It's been said a million times, but what floats one person's boat may not do anything for another person. I still think the De Capo's are fabulous and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others.

Mapman,
Your question about whether I feel differently now about the quality of the Manley Mahi mono-blocks that I used to have is an interesting and useful one. Here's what I would say:
I would say that I have experienced 2 realizations in the course of my equipment changes over the past few months.
The first one is that I love SET amplification. Paired with my Reference 3A's, The Kit 1 smokes the Manley Mahi's in all of the audio parameters that I find the most compelling, personally: tonality, sound staging, imaging and above all, coherence, that sense that I am getting a complete sonic picture that is not chopped up into pieces; a "performance," if you will. Once I heard the kind of music that poured out of the Kit 1, there was no turning back to my old amplifiers. In this regard, I find myself in league with Charles and the Tribe of SET. :-)
The second realization came from listening to the Tekton Lore Reference. As I mentioned previously, I had absolutely no idea that the Kit 1 could sound as big and powerful and, above all, "relaxed" as it did through those Tekton speakers. It opened my eyes to the wisdom of pairing the Kit 1 – or any low powered SET amp – with a more efficient and easy to drive design. That was a real game changer for me and I am grateful to the fellow who lent me his Lore Reference.
Let me make it clear that I still do not believe that the Reference 3A and the Kit 1 are a poor match! I was listening to some Steely Dan last night and stayed up way too late because it sounded so good. But, on the other hand, my experience with the Lore Reference has taught me that the Kit 1 can deliver a bigger, "beefier" and more dynamic presentation than I have been getting with the De Capo. And I learned that I like those qualities more than I realized.

Rob,
Life is short and I don't take these things personally, but I think your use of the word "disingenuous" is a little harsh. In any event, I'm guessing your judgment may have to do with the fact that I sent you a pretty ecstatic personal message after living with the Lore Reference for a few days. I praised their musicality, their large and engulfing soundstage and their ability to dig deeper than the Reference 3A De Capo. That was how I felt about them at that time. "Wow, this is so amazing! These things cream the De Capo's in every way!"
As I'm sure many of us have experienced in the past, it's not unusual in this hobby to make a change and get very excited about something, labeling it as "better." Sometimes, with more experience, we realize that what seemed at first "better" is more "different:" perhaps more pleasing in some ways and not as pleasing in others.
I think that is what, in retrospect, tempered my original, effusive reaction. As a beloved (and sadly no longer with us) graduate school professor of mine used to like to say, "Every situation has the advantages of its deficiencies and the deficiencies of its advantages." There are always trade-offs, and I suspect that is true even if you have the financial wherewithal to throw tens of thousands of dollars at this hobby.
Based on my limited exposure, with my equipment in my room and reflecting my own listening biases and priorities, I believe that the Lore Reference is a terrific bargain and that it does a lot of things – tone, dynamics, low end slam and retrieval of musical information – extraordinarily well. That is to say, it is great in many ways. The Reference 3A De Capo is also great in many ways and deservedly regarded by many as a classic design, but its greatness lies in different areas: resolution at lower volume levels, pinpoint imaging and that elusive quality of "coherence." I don't find myself in a position, at this point, of saying that one is better than the other in every way. YMMV, as they say.
Everyone enjoys being agreed with completely and sometimes we find it aggravating when people don't see things our way. That's not evil – it's just human. I also note that I like making decisions in a slow, thoughtful and deliberate manner and I like sharing my thought processes with other people. I am not looking to troll or bait anyone.

I will close this lengthy comment with one, additional example. I owned a pair of Merlin TSM-mmi monitors for about 18 months. There are many, many fans of Bobby P. and his products. It is not hard to find people who believe that the TSM is the apotheosis of stand mounted speakers. I think Bobby is one of the greatest people in high-end audio – a truly fine and delightful human being. But in the end, the TSM just didn't do it for me. Were I to list the reasons that I eventually sold them, people who revere Merlin would be eager to jump in and tell me all the reasons I was mistaken. What can you do? Ultimately, your system has to please you – it's that simple.

Rebbi, As I remember I think you heard the Audio Note AN-E's. If so how do they compare to the Lore Reference?

Jet -

Hey! :-) My soldering gun wielding DIY guru! :-D

I have only heard AN speakers once, at the California Audio Show in the AN room a few years ago, and it was my favorite room! The only room, in fact, that I kept returning to. The dynamics and "realness" of the music pouring out of those puppies was addictive. Of course, AN had them paired with all manner of hyper-expensive AN electronics, but the bottom line was that the sound that day was dreamy.

I don't think I can make a valid comparison with the Lore Reference because it's been too long and I don't trust my sonic memory that far. But if I could afford any current AN speaker I'd jump in a heartbeat, believe me. My only concern is that corner placement's not possible in my current room.