Best high-efficiency speaker under 10K

I am assuming that his slightly lower efficiency speakers such as the Jazz Modules (92 dB, $4500) are not efficient enough.

That would depend on the size of the room and how loud the OP listens. I have a small room, listen to the same type of music as the OP (sans the opera), and at levels that don't exceed 90 SPL very often. I have an 8 watt SET amp that drives the Jazz Module nicely and auditioned a 10 watt solid state amp that had no problem driving them either. So a 13 watt EAR, which will play more like 8 or 9 watts with the 12 ohm Jazz Module should do fine. IMO, I think Duke understates the efficiency of his speakers. I much prefer the Jazz Module to the Planetarium series too, but that's just me.

The Tonian Lab speakers are phenomenal as well. I have the TL-D1 ($2500 these days) which is pretty much an entry level model. I can only imagine how good the upper end models sound. They do produce a lot of detail though and are extremely transparent. Not everyone's cup of tea in that respect. I doubt Tony or his speakers will be at RMAF. However, I did ask him once about a home audition and he offered 7 days with only shipping charges as my risk. If you contact Duke at Audiokinesis he will work with you as well to see if he can get you a home audition. He personally drove two pairs of speakers to my home and allowed me to listen to them before buying.

Along the lines of my earlier comment, imo the most important factor in determining the necessary speaker sensitivity is the dynamic range of the music being listened to. Meaning the difference in volume between the loudest notes and the softest notes, or perhaps more appropriately in many cases, the difference in volume between the loudest notes and the average note.

For well recorded, minimally compressed, classical symphonic music, particularly on audiophile-oriented labels, based on my experience 95db/1W/1m would be an absolute minimum requirement with a 13W amplifier, with several db more than that being preferable. For most other kinds of recordings, and at typical listening distances, considerably less than that would be acceptable.

Keep in mind that a dynamic range of 30db, which is easily reached by many classical recordings, means that the loudest notes will require 1000 times as much power as the softest notes.

Regards,
-- Al

I'm suprised more people don't try open baffle designs when looking at HE speakers. A good open baffle speaker can provide a large soundstage similar to planars while also being tube amp friendly. You remove the coloration of having an enclosure and if you have any DIY skills OB speakers are very cost effective.

For those interested in listening to Tonian Labs I believe they are scheduled to be at the inaugural California Audio Show in Emeryville (Northern California) from July 30 - Aug 1st. I've heard about Tonian for a long time - looking forward to listening to them.

I was not unfortunately able to hear the more expensive Tonian models. I owned Beauhorns and they are very good, but pretty bandwidth-limited as you said. What they bring is smoothness missing from almost all Lowther speakers. Front-loading the drivers brings up the low-mids to eradicate the peaky mid-high mids.