what speakers demand high end electronics

I think Alan Shaw's comments are primarily intended to encourage potential Harbeth buyers to write the check when they might be hesitating out of fear that they would also need to make another substantial investment in amplification.

By stating that Harbeth speakers work just fine with inexpensive amps, he removes an obstacle to the potential buyer, thus possibly making another sale.

It's a classic sales technique.

Wilson. High power tubes will cost you about $50K.

Also if your speakers are bad no source equipment will make them sound good. Good sounding speakers will sound good with a large variety of electronics
Alan

It is a matter of synergy of the equipment feeding the speaker and the speaker's requirements. I have fairly low to medium cost gear for high end but years of experimentation led me to use this gear while feeping my biggest investment my speakers stable. So it is speaker to system matching IMHO.

Ahandler I agree with you to a certain point. Some high end speakers are very revealing. If you use those speakers with mediocre electronics the result can be hard for the ears. In such a case some less revealing, more friendly sounding speakers might be better. Speakers that will not let you hear every detail so you will not hear you electronics that well.