SET friendly speakers w/ slam?

The DB99 would be active I believe, so this is a solid state amp doing the bottom end... There are some other speakers that are passive and will work well with just as good of bass as actives, but need to find them.

I use Cary 805C with a pair of watt/puppy 7's. People who I have talked too who actually use watt/puppies with low powered tube amps use the amps 8 ohm tap. For some reason this creates a magical combination. I know this is contrary to what the experts say (including stereophile) but you have to trust your ears.

How about Zu Audio Presence or Definition II?

I like the VS DB99 idea, too.

Seems to me to get slam, you need some powered subwoofers (either separate or built-in as offered in the speakers mentioned above).

coincident, klipsch

Seems to me to get slam, you need some powered subwoofers (either separate or built-in as offered in the speakers mentioned above).

Hmmm, I wouldn't associate subwoofers with "slam" necessarily. Visceral, absolutely yes! But I'd put "slam" into a region just above where subs do their deep, dark, rumble'yer'roots thing. I'd associate it more with detailed tight, fast bass that's moving lots of air fast. Subs are more about the bass you feel in your bones and in your guts. Maybe its a matter of semantics and my (mis)understanding the terms. Regardless, I'd check out Coincident's offerings as well. Silverline's full-range offerings hover around 92 db so are just at the low end of set-friendly, and they're superb speakers IMO.

Marco