Easy to drive large speakers for Rock & Roll?

You would probably love the Klipsch Epic CF-3, or any of the Epic series but they are hard to find.

These were Klipsh's attempt at attacking the high end market. Everyone loved them except the legacy Klipsch community, so they had a relatively short production run.

The CF3s are monsters, about 100db efficient and absolutely rock. However, they are the most refined and sweet speaker Klipsch ever made. In fact, rumor has it Klipsch's lead designer still uses CF3s today- yes over khorns.

If you stumble upon an Epic series speaker give it a listen.

Fish,

I was just implying (and I should have stated this specifically) that the brightness is not likely "caused by" the Hyperion speakers. I'm not saying your electronics/cables are no good but it may be that they are the root cause of any brightness or forwardness.

The reason I really like the Hyperions - the reason I bought another pair after selling the first 18+ months ago - is that they're always pleasant to listen to!! Fault them if you will, but their kingly trait to me is just that they always sound - at least - good, and usually very, very good.

I'm not saying they pretty up bad material - I avoid bad material - but just that I have many recordings that do sound uncomfortably forward on other speakers, but not these.

The electronics are a Wavelength Cosecant DAC (also have other NOS/filterless DACs), a Shindo Monbrison pre, and the aforementioned 211 SET monoblocks. An ICE amp on the speakers did definitely bring out a bit more forwardness.

I also don't toe them in at all - they fire straight out - and that undoubtedly affects the tonal balance (this is how they're typically demoed...).

I think you can find plenty of speakers for less or equal money that are as easy to drive and dynamic, but all of these will not be nearly as full-range and not have the same accuracy of timbre. In my humble opinion and experience.

Good luck..

To Dr. Joe's list above, I'll add the Altec Model 14 (little brother of the superb Model 19), and the JBL model 4430 studio monitor.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

Look into line arrays. Selah Audio has a new one - the "Symmetrica" that's fairly inexpensive and will be a very easy load. My Selah arrays have great dynamics and expansive soundfield for live rock recordings.

I second the CF series by Klipsch, I had the CF 4s and they were ridiculous in both size and sheer output. 102 dB sensitivity. 2 12" poly-graphite drivers with horn in a D'appolito array. They sounded quite good in fact I kind of miss them. If you are looking for big, easy to drive, and LOUD... look no further.