Best 3 options for SET amps

Fernando, if you are limited in space, the Cain Abbys do have a fairly small footprint and can be placed failry close to walls. The size of the speaker is not necessarily correlated with the space they will need to sound good. From recollection of the 3A De Capo, I do think the Royal Master might need a lot more room to breath.

Also, another option not mentinoned so far are traditional horn speakers like Klipsch, Altec, etc. They usually do require large space though.

All these speakers have a very different design and as result very different sound with different tradeoff. Listening to a couple should help making up your mind.

Good luck,

Rene

My short list would include:

- Fab Audio Model 1 or Stonehenge. I have the Model 1 and think they are extremely hard to beat.

- 3A De Capo i. In the smallish room of a friend they are total magic with a KR18 SET integrated.

- Coincident Victory. I had the Total Victory but they were too much for a low-powered SET to drive to my satisfaction. The new Victory should be much better.

- Audio Note speakers go without saying. I've never heard them, but I've never read a bad word about them, and who should know SET-friendly speakers better than AN?

Other speakers I'd be very interested in hearing would be the Zu Definitions and the Von Schweikert db99.

Speakers that would NOT make my short list include:

- the Coincident Total Victory - maybe the new Mark II model is better, but the original didn't do it for me. Likewise the whole Eclipse series.

- the C&C Abby - IMO these are toy speakers with a number of flaws that make them unsuitable for serious use (flame away). The bigger Ben series may be better, but I've never heard a pair.

- the Lamhorn 1.8 - a bad experience trying to drive a pair of these with my PX25 amp (and my ownership of the Abbys) has left me very skeptical about single driver backhorns in general.

Gliderguider,

You bring up and interesting observation that I noticed but never really gave much thought. I loaned my PX-25 amp and I-Bens to Paul Lim of Imagine HiFi for the VTV Show in LA 4 months ago or so.

I was surprised when he told that preferred the Abbys w/ the Almarro A205A instead of the AA PX-25. Actually, my pride was a little dented considering the cost difference between that $850 and $7k PX-25.

But, he was right, the Almarro is a fantstic match with the A205A. There was something not right when driven by the PX-25. Just a bad combo.

I do feel that both the Abby's and Ben's really need subwoofers to sound fully fleshed out.

Gliderguider, now that you opened pandora's box...What amp did you use
with the Abbys?

In general, high efficiency speakers seem notoriously difficult to match with
the amps. The Abbys sounded downwright awful with a Jolida 302b amp. A
Bottlehead SEX worked well, but was misisng bottom end. Both the First Watt
F1 and the Fi Super X sound incredibly good for the money. Also, I had similar
experience with the Zu Druids listening at dealers. As you state, the Abbys do
have their limitations but then you would expect that compared to your $10k
FAB speakers ;). With the right amp they shine.

Getting back to topic though that is trying to answer Fernando's question:
Given that you started with the amp, you will have to carefully search for the
right speaker that a) you really are comforatbly with and like and b) matches
your amp. Given that speaker tastes differ substantially (as you see from this
discussion), I would prefer to go with the right speaker and then find the
matching amp.

Of course, as the obvious choice for your Audio Note amp, my guess would
be to go with Audio Note speakers. Any of the mentioned speakers might
work or not, but only your ears and amp can decide that.

Good luck,

Rene

I am on a similar search and have considered many of the choices above. A major consideration is output, a 20watt SET gives you more choices than a 5. If size is an issue, some of the above suggestions may be impractical, Horns even smallish ones like Cain and Cain Bens, may be out. The Coincident line sound great, but they are deep and need free positioning, so they are no use for me.
I would add a few thoughts, Silverline Sonata, Reimer, Daedalus and the Tyler new Pro dynamic range are all possibles.
May I suggest you check out these sites:

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/set/set_3.html

www.welbornelabs.com

Both I found very helpful, good luck in your search.