Raven Blackhawk LE... am I going to be disappointed?

For a year or so I ran my LS3/5As with a Stereo 70, 35 w/channel. That was in a room about 14x20, firing into the long end. I added a sub, crossed over at 80Hz. I was surprised to learn after buying a db meter I listen at about 80-85 db max, I’d thought I liked it loud. It sounded, IMO, great.

about a year ago I replaced the ST 70 with a pair on VTL MB-125s. The VTLs sound very different, more speed, drive, more alive. More SQ like I would expect to hear from your Raven, just without the power. But consider what MC said regarding the use of the sub, as that’s a very good way to get you where you want to go. You take the very low end from your Salks, the upper lows to mids will only get better and sound like you have much more power, which in reality you do with the power to the sub.

That's a double edged sword. Yes you get the benefit of relieving small drivers from trying to produce bass, but you also get the downside of having to run the speakers through an inferior crossover on the subwoofer. Personally I like running speakers full range and bringing in a sub for the lowest frequencies, but this doesn't help with the OPs issue.

Oz

Raven includes a high pass crossover in that amp which is ideal for your situation.

"High-Pass Crossover

This addition to the Avian series provides an extraordinary advantage when using a subwoofer. It frees the power amp from 65% of the load it normally has to bear. This is like tripling the power of the amplifier in terms of its ability to drive speakers. It also frees smaller speakers from reproducing low bass frequencies that they really don’t reproduce very well which lowers overall distortion. This is all achieved with a gentle 6db per octave slope making it easy to achieve a seamless transition with a good quality subwoofer."

Try it, if you don't get enough volume or enough bass, just use the built-in crossover to a self-powered sub, that let's the Raven act like one of the big boys!

https://www.ravenaudio.com/product/blackhawk-mk3/

I am using a Luxman 10 wpc with wharfedale 87 sensitivity very happily in my small office. A crossover and a self-powered sub for a bigger room would be dandy.

For a main system, I recommend 2 subs, front firing, located adjacent to the mains to create/preserve imaging. It is both the fundamentals and their overtones that give location information.

chicagoblue,

Everyone is stupid for making low impedance speakers when they can design the same speaker with a higher impedance. Especially bad are wide swings. Now I am not saying that low imp. or wide swings arent sometimes the only way to create a design, but in almost every case, higher impedance, stable loads are much easier for all amps to drive and will sound better due to the ease on the amplifier. I can think of only one designer that may claim his amps sound better with low impedance loads.