$$$Sensitive Speakers with $$Amps?

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,

Thanks Charles! Yes, research and patience.

I don't know if this thread will hold up, but it would be great if Horning/Rethm owners could chime in with their own amplifier solutions. Or, if we got more contenders for lower cost/low-watt amplifiers regardless of the high sensitivity speaker type and/or brand.

That would surely help with my research and definitely my patience.

It seems that most boutique dealers are located on the E. & W. Coasts, making it difficult for this Colorado guy to hear stuff up close and personal...Except for RMAF, which is not so up close and personal.

My goal, is to get a low-watt Sam Kim amp and compare it to a few winners that I've researched (I consider this research), and then pick my keeper.

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.

Kenny are the Hornings you`re interested in the same as Trelja`s? I ask as you heard the Horning driven by the 8 watt 300B Tron SET and found it to your liking very much.Perhaps there`re different woofer arrangements among the various Horning models.My speakers have two 10" woofers per side and are driven very well with my 8 watt SET.I realize this ability to drive is dependent on the particular speaker and certainly which SET amp one is using. Some just have stiffer power supplies and bigger/better transformers than others.I don`t doubt the ability of a good quality 845 amplifier to work well at all.
Regards,