Best 3 options for SET amps

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.

I've tried the Abby with my Audion PX-25, a pair of Wavelength Triton 300Bs, and a Nelson Pass Aleph J. The Achilles heel of the speaker is driver and cabinet resonances, and they come through with all the amps. The peakiness of the driver makes female vocals sound rough and the resonance of the cabinet walls makes male voices sound chesty. I will admit that they have a sense of presence that is beguiling, but once I'd become accustomed to really good high-efficiency speakers it was hard to ignore their limitations. The subs help a lot in providing a fleshed-out sound, but those two resonance problems remain. I currently have them in my living room system driven by the Aleph J, and for that purpose they are more than adequate, not to mention the design gets admiring looks from everyone who visits.

By the way, I mentioned the Lamhorns above. After trying really hard to like them with my PX-25 we put on the designer's Tenor hybrid, and they just sang. It was amazing, but I didn't see the point of buying an efficient single-driver speaker with frequency range limitations, and then having to drive it with a 150 wpc hybrid amp...

I had great success using the Merlin VSM with the Cary 300B monos. The numbers don't indicate just how good this combo sounds, provided you don't listen to organ music (as per your post) and don't need huge volume levels. The deCapo also works well, but it's not in the same league as the VSM and the above caveats are even more applicable. Finally, the Zingali horns work well, very dynamic, reasonably full range, greater volume capability, though a bit less neutral than either of the above.

Happy hunting.

Marty