Horning Perikles w Frankenstein amp

The Horning is designed to be very compatible for SET use. My speakers
have two 10" woofers and when I replaced my 100 watt push pull tube
amp with the Frankensteins there was no problem, the sound improved, a
different world.
People who own various Hornings seem to drive them with SET amplifiers
and are happy. I suspect that other amplifier types work well also.lf you
look through the Virtual system section under Horning you'll find a number
of people with lower power SETs driving them.

Never thought to search the Virtual Systems. Thx, Charles.

Swampwalker,
Marshall Nack reviewed the Horning Agathon Ultimate(this used two 12" woofers per speaker) and he used 5 or 6 different 300b SET amps with comments on all of them. This was in Positive Feedback Online issue # 20. From what he found I don`t think your smaller woofer version Horning would be a problem.

Michael, you may actually own the Perikles Reference, with 2 12" woofers on the rear.

Personally, while I do like this amp a great deal, I would be skeptical of any 300B SET amplifier with these speakers. That said, Jeff normally produces phenomenal (IMO, best of show) sound at the myriad venues he displays, and I think he may have used a 300B(?) based Tron amplifier. Folks have assured me the Border Patrol amplifiers, with their novel choke input power supply could do the job, but when hearing them with smaller woofered loudspeakers, I remain skeptical.

In my experience of living with them, despite the Lowther midrange, these Hornings work best with a surprising amount of power. Nothing against the 300B, as it's certainly a beautiful sounding tube, but I find it too soft on the low-end to get the Hornings to sound right. In my opinion, you need an amp with a pretty stiff bottom end, otherwise, the Hornings come off all wrong. If you don't use an amp that takes control of those woofers, the bass goes MIA, and the overall sound is quite unbalanced.

Best amplifiers I've used with them: 15 wpc Deja Vu push-pull 2A3, a Chinese 30 wpc push-pull transformer coupled 6AS7G, and 60 wpc Jadis DA60. The DA60 might surprise, but the speakers really loved the power, while 30 wpc Jadis DA30 and 40 wpc Jadis Orchestra Reference were not good matches.

Trelja raises a good point and mentions reasonable alternatives. No amplifier does everything (there's always the reality of compromise regardless of what you use). Some 300b SETs have better drive and control than others, High Water Audio demonstrates Hornings with 300b amps sometimes, see what he advises. I could see a DHT push pull being a very viable alternative. I don't know how much Hornings differ from the Coincident speakers in terms of ease of drive. The Frankenstein drives them pretty easily with good bass and woofer control. I've always been curious to hear the Frankenstein with the Hornings, Tonian Lab and the Ocellia speakers.
Charles,