Eminent Technology 8b Speakers - Amp/wattage Recommendations

@jwr159 Well... I’ve listened to my own QS Mono 120s w/KT150s powering both the 8b and 16 model speakers. It plays nicely at moderate listening levels, and then some. Your comment about Playing "fairly loud" is another question i’d defer back to EMT about if I were you -- asking them more about what levels of volume reasonable to do with these particular speakers. Once you hear them with good tube amps, this idea could change about what is the optimum and loudest listening levels.

While they can probably do it, my question is how long will the speakers last under sustained listening at loud levels. Are you talking all day parties, more then 2-3 hours of "loud"...hard to say. I see the QS Mono 120s combo with  8bs more as finesse speakers to play music, not loud noise. More so than I do true loudspeakers. Maybe that’s just me. Bi-amping, sure, okay. Yes, they need a little power/transformers behind them, bing closer to 82db sensitivity. Best of luck.

Thanks for the LSA suggestion. 

I admittadly have limited experience with class D amps, GAN or otherwise. But one benefit of Class D is their lack of weight. A home demo can be arranged w/o incurring a fortune in shipping costs. 

In general I prefer tubes. Too me, they breath life into music. If GAN changes the equation, I don't know. 

Thanks decooney. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Agreed, a call to EMT will likely result in some clarity here. 

I once measured my existing system using a sound meter in a much smaller room. I was amazed at how loud 95dB actually is. I can't imaging playing any speakers lounder than that other than a brief moment. So my use of "fairly loud" was not meant to imply rock concert levels hur after hour. My most likely use will be in the high 80dB levels for an hour or two. 

@jwr159 your update helps understand better, and 'hour or two" here and there would be fine for the M120s alone without bi-amping, I believe.  Best to ask EMT. Good fun.  👍

If it was me, I’d match them with a Cary SLP-98 preamp and a Parasound A21+ or maybe two. You'll have your tube goodness and the power you need to play loud.