SET Tube Question

I have heard Cary SET amps are the best of the best but you should have an high efficient speakers or horn speakers. I had a pair of Cary CAD300B Signature monoblock amps which produced awesome sound (I still like them) but now upgrade to 805 Anniversary Edition since my monitor speakers need more juice. Good luck.

Another very appropriate option would be the Sophia Electric Baby amplifier, which uses 2 6P1T triode tubes per channnel in a push-pull configuration yielding 10 watts per channel. I use one with my Klipsch Chorus with very good results. It is very low noise (-95 dB) and ultra-wide bandwidth. It has very good bass extension and articulation, a smooth, sweet midrange, and simply fantastic high-frequency performance. Best of all is the low price. Here's a link:
http://www.sophiaelectric.com/

Many of the other amps mentioned are lower in power, higher in noise, and are lacking at the frequency extremes. The plus for the 2A3 and 300B SET amps is mainly a glorious midrange, which most folks are prepared to sacrifice bass and treble performance to get. But I've grown too accustomed to having excellent bass and treble to go that route -- at least for now...

There isn't a specific need to go low powered just because your speakers have very high efficiency. I run Rogue M120s in push-pull mode at 120 watts with my La Scalas - quite a bit of power. As Plato mentioned, higher-powered amps generally have more LF and HF extension than flea amps. High-powered tube amplifiers can sound stunning and effortless with these speakers, and drive them effectively to their frequency extremes. It really comes down to preference. I didn't care for the M120s in triode mode (about 60w) with either KT88s or EL34s - I preferred the fullness the additional power gave the sound. Furthermore, when I used solid state amplification, I found times when wattage of at least 200w was necessary, even with 104db sensitivity. It all depends on what you're trying to reproduce, and to what degree.

Just because you have horns doesn't mean you have to run SET (gosh, or even tubes, though I prefer them at the moment!). Some solid state amps can match very well with Klipsch heritage speakers. I'd imagine a Pass Aleph 3 would be an interesting listen.

Iain:

Try running a full site search of "Belle Klipsch" @ audioasylum.com and you will then be able to read quite a bit about your speakers and tried/true amplification.

Only agree with the advice given in two of the above posts (numbering seven as I post) based on personal experience with SET amps and my advice is to visit Audio Asylum, spending your time @ first using the search functions.

Mwilson makes some good points about the benefits of running higher power even with high efficiency speakers. In fact, as much as I like the Sophia Baby amp I mentioned above, I feel I need more power at times. The sound becomes a little strained when I push the amp. Because of that, I recently bought a higher powered, class-A, solid-state amp to try. A little more headroom would be nice. :)