Acoustic Zen Adagio owners/re: amplification

I experimented with toe-in and found that no toe-in provided a smoother sound. I also have them about 5 feet from the rear wall and 3 feet from the sides. The Adagios are driven by an ARC VT200MKII.

I'm using Almarro 318B 18 watt SETs with mine. The dynamics and drive are suprisingly even better than the Hypex UCD400 dual mono amps I was using previously. While tube amps traditionally have plummy bass, the bass definition on my setup is very good after some room treatment to reduce bass standing waves.

I find that toeing in improves palpability and the density of the sound, but tends to accentuate a brighter tonal balance. Toeing the speakers closer to zero degrees tends to reduce the "meatiness" of the sound, and de-emphasize the treble.

YMMV.

Snavesealssg....I agree with your thoughts.....ex. Air Force SAC.

i am using a tad 150 tube pre with an electrocompaniet 120 wpc amp. sounds great, big improvement over my totem model1 signatures in my room. i wonder what a decent tube amp will do. i listen to a 50wpc tube integrated (pacific creek 901) at home with single drivers and just love that setup. considering trying a pair of the small maggies in that room too. any thoughts on the mmg with that type of power?

I've been auditioning a pair of Adagios powered by a Cary SLI-80 with a local dealer -- fairly early on in the process, but they certainly sounded great to me with the Cary both in Triode (40w) and UL (80w) mode.

The only other direct comparison I can make including the adagios was when we had them hooked up to a higher-end Cary tube amp (can't remember which model, it was more than I wanted to spend so I wasn't really paying attention), and a Jaton Operetta AP2140 (140w@4ohm, 70w@8ohm). Both did an admirable job as far as I could tell, but to be fair, it was a small-ish dedicated listening room, and while I've spent some time with the Adagios there, I can't say I've done any in-depth auditioning or comparisons as of yet.