Efficient speakers for my 2A3's........

I bought some Omega TS1 that are very very impressive for the price. You probably can afford more expensive ones if you bought Cary but I would give these a listen if you have a chance. They are not too common but sound darn good with tubes. Super SET friendly 96dB efficient with good impedance single driver fostex cones. Mids are very clear and detailed, highs are crystalline, and bass is present enough to make the mids wonderful. www.omegaloudspeakers.com. I tried a couple ASL SET amps with them and am looking to buy some very soon. I wanted to listen to the SM2A3 but never got to. Good luck as there are not a ton of speakers like this (I looked for a long time before getting Omegas).

I forgot...also try the Coincident Triumph Signatures. Not as SET friendly as the Omegas but look great and have excellent reviews. http://www.coincidentspeaker.com/tri_sig.htm

Mark:

What size room and budget? Also are you set on stand mounted speakers, or could you also use slim floorstander's?

I like my Cain & Cain Abby Nearfield ($1500)
Modified Voight pipe with 165mm Fostex FF-165K speaker. I use them with the same Cary 2A3 amp that I think you own. I also have a pair of the Soliloquy SM2A3 speakers (another good speaker) that I'm currently not using.

I use Lowthers with my Voigt Pipe cabinets, and they are well known to be one of the preferred speakers for SET gear. It is one of the classic combinations. If you don't make your own cabinets, buying pre-made ones can be expensive. Some Lowther models can be 100db efficient, when loaded into a cabinet. This gives over 105db peaks with a 2A3 amp. They will play pretty darn loud and clean with a 2A3. Bookshelf speakers are not really an option with Lowthers, or other real efficient speakers because of the cabinet designs that are required to achieve useable bass response. However, the Omega speakers mentioned above, or the Loth-X bookshelf series will do reasonably well in the bass, for a small sized cabinet that doesn't use a back loaded horn.