$$$Sensitive Speakers with $$Amps?

Our amps only have one stage of gain. Hard to get simpler than that. In general its been my impression that cost is less important than the simple fact that some amps sound more like music than others. So my answer is now 'depends' as there are expensive amps that do deliver.

Kenny with the Horning you`re lucky in that you have many choices available. OTL, DHT tubes as SET or PP design,low power SS(in class A) etc. Just with 300b amps alone there`re so many good choices for less than silly money.Many Horning owners seem to do quite well with 8-10 watts of power. Of course the transformer and power supply can vary significantly at the same power rating.Based on what your priorities are it seems a DHT(2A3,300b, 845 etc)either as SET or PP will give you what you want.OTL is a different sound and certainly has it supporters also.

It would be ideal if you could compare some SET and OTL amplifiers with your speaker of choice and simply hear for yourself.I`m confident you`ll find exactly what you want with some research and patience, I sure did.
Regards,

Atmasphere,
You are right of course, as your amps have stood the test of time and are highly regarded. No debate there, as some expensive amps do deliver the goods and sound superior. This, probably relates to the quality of parts used that cost a pretty penny, but provide the final percentage of return. I understand, and thought I relayed the value of spending the extra bucks with my reference to the $40K Tron that I love. I know that you have far less expensive designs.

It's an intersting hobby, and for some of us we enjoy finding less expensive solutions that excel to fit our personal high expectations and budgets of what's wonderful. For example, Sam Kim does not install Auricaps or the like. Instead, he cuts open different runs of quality capacitors and he knows by inspection, which ones will sound the best. This is what does it for me, because I'm a retired Locksmith who doesn't have unlimited funds. However, there are reviewers who expect the quality of parts to be there. This is why I rely on all of you for quality feedback.

My Horning speakers don't do so well with SET 300B, or even PSE, as the dual 12" woofers never get the power they're looking for. I've long wanted to try the 300B based push-pull VAC Renaissance products with them, and see what comes of that.

Rethm speakers do mate in an especially synergistic way with 300B SET amps. The Rethms don't ask the amp to produce the lowest frequencies ala either having no driver that can produce them, or those that do have an onboard solid state amplifier to handle the responsibility.

The 845 and 211 SET amps I've owned all did superbly with backloaded horns. Regardless of specs, no amps rivaled their ability to put power into that type of horn.

My Atma Sphere M60s and a friend's S30 don't couple well with the backloaded horns we've tried with them. Mate the Atmas with the antithesis of that alignment, a true transmission line, and you'll not find better amplification. Also, after hearing the Miyajima OTL with Quad ESL57 in NYC last month, the notorious and wonderful synergy of the electrostatic/OTL topologies comes across clearly.