Decware and SET Low Power Tube Amps with Hi Efficency Speakers

I heard two Decware amps that were at a local dealership (trade-ins).  I don't recall the models.  I was curious about how they sound (they looked good and the build quality was excellent), so I heard them hooked up to a pair of ProAc and Harbeth speakers.  This was a quick demonstration so there was no attempt to optimize the performance (no tube swapping, although the tubes in the amps tested strong).  The sound was quite disappointing--sweet sounding, but dull and lifeless and a little muddy.  I am hardly an expert on low-priced tube gear, but, I've heard much better from other reasonably priced brands, such as Synthesis, AudioSpace, and Quicksilver.  I hope they would do better with other speakers and perhaps with other tubes in them.  I don't have enough experience with them to pass any judgment, so I am only cautioning that they may not be the miracle bargain that some tout them to be.

wtf,

Yes, that might be the case.  However, other similarly low-powered tube amps, such as the Audio Note Oto and a tiny Synthesis amp sounded MUCH better with the same speakers.  I am merely cautioning a prospective buyer to not automatically accept rave endorsement of this particular brand (or any brand).  It is not that the raves are dishonest, it is often the case that the person is encountering tubes for the first time and is so captured by the sound that shortcomings are overlooked or the person is unaware that other tube gear will deliver that same kind of sound, but with even better performance.

Harbeth claims that its speakers must be used with high-powered amps, ideally solid state amps, but, I've heard them used with quite low-powered amps and they sound really good as long as they are not required to play at extremely high volume levels.  I heard the 40.2s played with a fantastic 10-12 watt amp and the sound was fantastic.