Blindjim- it HAS been a long time, but I’ve learned some things along the way. I like tubes. A good tube system to my ears sounds like music, a good ss rig sounds like a good ss rig. So once that was settled, it means looking for tube-friendly speakers. The beauty of a high eff speaker is that it mates well with tubes AND it does not require horsepower size amps. That means you can use modest powered amps that do not break the budget. The Thor EL-34s would be great, but if you have not heard the Classic Audio/Atma combo that Ralph Karsten demos at shows like RMAF, you should. A pair of M-60s produced rock concert level volume in a very, very large room not the little converted overnight rooms, but one of the very good sized conference rooms. That allows you to keep your amp budget down and put more $ into the speakers. I used to own M-60s but let them get away (my bad), but now I have a fully loaded S-30 that does just fine in my 14x 23 room. The Hornings use a modified Lowther for the mids, a wave guide tweeter, and multiple smaller (maybe 8") woofers in a modern slim tower cabinet. The Classic Audio speakers use horns with conventional very large woofers. To my ears, no shout in either one.
If you prefer the VAC sound over an OTL, you can get a used Ren 30/30 for about $3-4K that will give you all the dBs you will ever need with high 90 dB speakers. I mention these two brands because I have used them both with 95/96 dB speakers and thought they worked very well, and you will hear only the best comments on the level of service VAC and Atma-sphere provide.
If you prefer the VAC sound over an OTL, you can get a used Ren 30/30 for about $3-4K that will give you all the dBs you will ever need with high 90 dB speakers. I mention these two brands because I have used them both with 95/96 dB speakers and thought they worked very well, and you will hear only the best comments on the level of service VAC and Atma-sphere provide.