$$$Sensitive Speakers with $$Amps?

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,

This is excellent information, and for my smallish room the Aristoteles were recommended by Jeff (HWS). Likewise, I was considering the Maargas as a possible contender, but I would have to travel to NY to hear them.

The Aristotels use two rear eight inch woofers in push-pull.

Charles,

I've heard the Horning Eufrodites driven by the Tron Telstar 211 SE. The Eufrodites use four eight inch woofers where the Aristoteles just have two, so they were recommended for my room size.

I think a trip to NY to hear both the Horning and Rethm on the same day would be smart.

Trelja's experience flies in the face of what our other Horning customers report, but it might have something to do with Joe's amps being 12-15 years old without any updates (its clearly time, Joe- you know the warranty reactivates with the update, right?). Most of our Horning customers have much newer amps.

From what I can make out on the Horning website, the specs and design notes confirm what our customers report: the speaker is an easy load.

The efficiency is what I would call verging on high efficiency. 96-100 db or so depending on the model- you will want some power with this speaker, a 7 watt amp will not do it unless you are listening near field in a very small room, at least if you expect the system to play anything- Black Sabbath to string quartets. My speakers at home are 98 db and I find that I do appreciate having more power, 60 watts is nice, very hard to clip. My room is 17' x 21' with moderate damping and solid walls.