Zu Omen or Tekton Lore

I got the NCore modules installed in a chassis and running this week. They are very smooth, detailed, great soundstage depth, imaging, tone, pretty much everything. They are not the most dynamic, but a good match to the Lore in this regard, as I have tried some punchy amps with them that we're too much.

I'm just starting to get used to the sound of these amps, but they are definitely special. If you haven't heard of them, I would check them out.

I'm in Sacramento, Ca., and would like to listen to the Lores. I have the single-ended amp bug, and so I am looking for a more sensitive speaker that my stalwart Vienna Acoustic Mozarts, which are 88-90 db, depending on who you believe. I tend to think the stereophile 88 db measurement is correct, and that doesn't work with the 8 watts I have right now. I have two homemade subs, so I'm not worried about the bottom end very much. I spent a chunk of my weekend reading this thread, and everthing else I could find on Tekton's products, but there is no substitute for listening. Very entertaining thread, btw,
thanks! Goraman, Morganic, Sionlim?

I am in San Francisco and now have the Pendragons if you want to come by sometime let me know. You can PM me on Audiocircle if you want......

Morgan,
I couldn't contact you through Audiocircles. When I click your name over there, it gives me a message that says "Many apologies, but you can't just view any profile." Are you on diyaudio? They allow private messages there.

To change the subject, what got me started in this new direction, that is, SET and a speaker to go with it is when
I heard the Atma-sphere M-60 OTL's at Deete's Audio showroom in Sacramento. They sounded amazing with the Audio Note speakers (and others too). Alas, out of my price range, and the heat and tube issues (16 tubes, plus the driver tubes) made them even less appealing here in Sacramento. Still, I had to go back to tubeville after several years in solid state land. I listened to a friends HES two ways, and they sounded excellent with a SET amp.
I didn't like the TC-90 inverted dome kevlar tweeter he used,though, so now I am checking out HES's. The Audio Notes sounded great tonally, and they had impact and bass set up in the corners for bass reinforcement, but the sound stage was...long and thin, and they seem overpriced.

This is fascinating. Thanks for all this info. I'm a bit perplexed myself, as I've just bought an Eastern Electric minimax integrated and I need some speakers. Small room but I don't want bookshelf speakers. Tekton and Zu keep popping up as the go-to for small wattage amps. They both seem to have flavors. I keep hearing about "too much bass" on the Tekton's, and "flat mid range" on the Zu's. Are there any other options out there, under $999? This is for a second system so I want to keep the investment low.