SET Tube Question


I am very new to the tube world and high end audio so I hope I don't get flamed. I have just acquired my first couple pieces of gear a pair of Belle Klipsch speakers, a custom made isoberic sub made to match the Belle's, and an EAD MK III cd player. I have been doing alot of research and reading and I would like to try a SET amp first but there are so many different types of tubes and tube gear it gets a little overwhelming. Is there a tube gear guide for dummies out there or other recommended reading? Any advice or recommended tube gear to compliment the Belle's would be appreciated.
Thanks
iain42
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. :)
Thank you for all the recomendations I didn't expect that much of a response. It looks like I have a little more research to do before I by my preamp/amp.
Thanks again,
Iain