Salk Sound Encore 3 or Totem Wind

thanks guys

The Encores do tight bass really well. They're fast, non-boxy sounding speakers that weigh 100+ lbs each. I never had problems with boomy bass regardless of the room they were in. I appreciated that they were fairly easy to place also and not hugely difficult to dive. I haven't heard the Totems but I would absolutely buy the Encores again (or probably the new BePure2).

@dpm2340 it might be helpful if you shared exactly which model BAT amplifier you are using. BAT makes 75/80 watt tube amps and up to ~500 watt solid state amps.

While Salk Song Encore 3 spec 8ohms, and can be okay with tube amps, they dip down closer to 85/86db efficiency near 800hz to 1k range. Likely not a problem in a smaller room setting. Not an issue with the BAT solid state amps, plenty of power.  

Totem Winds are 4ohm 87db efficiency and might not perform their optimum with a lower power tube amp either. Sure, they could work, maybe not in their sweet spot. The difference powering my former 87db 4ohm Totems at 50-100w with a tube amp vs. a 200-320 watt per channel dual mono solid state amplifier was astonishing.  I could never run my Totems properly in Triode mode at 50w. They were okay at 100w ultra linear. They came alive with the proper solid state with lots of current. 

While all tube and solid state amps are not created equal, and it's not always about power, impedance matters with tube amps, which might favor the Salks in this case.

Your VR4 Jr shows 4ohm and 90 db efficiency, with lower impedance yet a little more efficient than either the Salks or Totems. The amp you are driving your speakers with matters. The general 3 dB rule: A 3 dB gain means twice (x2) the power. A 3 dB loss means half the power. My former 4ohm 87db Totems soaked up the power.

This is partly why some of the responses have been vague so far. 

thanks for taking your time. I appreciate it. I am using a BAT 75se tube amp.

@dpm2340 in this case with your amp,  if you must pick between the two you mentioned, probably the Salk then. Keep in mind your current speaker will sound different from the Salk and its likely Be tweeter. A friend with similar power range tube amps worked for a year to tame that tweeter in his Salks and Jim sent him a resistor to tame it. He ended up selling the speakers for a speaker with higher nominal impedance and a more tamed ribbon tweeter instead, fwiw. You could call and  talk with Jim and ask if he's still working on designing a more sensitive 8ohm speaker. As I recall, he was (sort of) partnering a bit with a gentlemen on pairing up some tube amps last year - he was trying with his speakers. As for the Totems, I'd want more power to drive them if you felt compelled to buy those instead. Cool amp there you have.. If I had to recommend something, I'd also be looking at other 8ohm slightly higher sensitivity speakers for your amp. Def talk to Jim about some of his more recent explorations with other tube friendly speakers and see if he shares any updates with you.  Not sure if he ever developed anything more there or not.  A friend talked with him a lot about this over a year ago.  Best of Luck.