Tube amp for "difficult" speakers,,,

The Consequence is not that hard a speaker to drive. We've had customers who have had good luck using our MA-2s. That's 220 watts of triode power FWIW.

What is the definition of diffcult speakers? My Focal JMlab Alto Utopias have a rating of 91 db/w/m and have a nominal load of 8 ohms. However, they can go down to 3.2ohms. People told me that my speakers are easy to drive. However, my Melody KT88 monoblocks (50wpc) don't have sufficient bass even using the 4 ohm taps.

Yea, the MA-1's are great, but I hate moving a guy into that many tubes if I don't know him better; as in, can he handle the maintenance and pain-in-the-arse resale.

There are some good comments above. Yea, again, the RM-200 is a great amp and no trouble on resale, but what about all of that biasing? A Defy 7 anyone?! :0)

If I was moving a guy from SS to tubes on an amp and he liked Dynaudio (detail, dynamics, fast and relatively hungry), I'd look at a Berning...It will take hold of Acoustat 2+2's. Its reliable as a tank. Tube rolling is cheap if he wants to and there are plenty of guys out there to talk to him about the amp - knowledgable guys to boot. And, its, um, "nuetral" for a tube amp, so someone moving from SS feels comfortable with it. And on resale, if he wants to later, he barely feels it.

Just an idea...

Good recommendation. As you say, ease of ownership is also an issue moving into tubes, and the Berning is about as plug and play as tube amps can be for someone making the move from SS. Not sure you can find a Berning anymore, I suspect it will be scare on the used market.

Asa, FWIW any Atma-Sphere product that gets updated to the latest level gets warranty reactivation. In addition, the warranty is transferable. This helps with the resale value on amps like the MA-1, which don't tend to hang on audiogon all that long.

Acoustat 2+2s are easily driven with a set of M-60s and a set of ZEROs. They are not a power-hungry speaker.