$$$Sensitive Speakers with $$Amps?

The Hornings are very sophisticated speakers and will benefit from a smooth and rich and transparent amplifiers with big sound stage and good front to back layering. I am thinking tubes, 300B 845's. Bigger tubes seem to have a bigger sound which I prefer. We carry Sophia Electric and they make some very nice sounding 300B amplifiers as well as 845 mono blocks. 'Just a plug here."

I have two pieces of tube gear, a DAC and a pre-amp.

The DAC is an overachiever for its very modest cost so I was willing to take a chance and go with a smaller vendor that seemed to receive universal rave reviews and that has worked out exceptionally well.

The pre-amp, an Audio Research, cost a good bit more but is still modest by some audiophile standards. For the bigger investment, especially first time out, I felt best going with a larger known entity like ARC not just becasue the gear sounds good but in hope of good customer service when needed, replacement tubes, etc. Maintaining the ARC is not horrible but it is not cheap (good QUIET tubes are EXPENSIVE). As much as I like the tube pre-amp, I still find myself thinking that when the day comes to replace it, I will try to go back to a good SS pre-amp in that I am not one who gets any enjoyment out of maintaining gear. I just want it to perform consistently well so I can listen to it.

I think Jaybo is correct to question your speaker choice. Why not go for a full horn system and skip the in-between step of full-range driver back loaded horn?

The Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 spent some time in my systems (a Jordan full range and a full horn system). It has a great sound in its own right, but is certainly not in the same league as a proper 300b amplifier.

For < 5k you can have a Yamamoto that will certainly sound far better than the Redwine, and I do not mean any disrespect to Vinnie, he makes a good product, but there are limits to solid state sound.

My other observation regarding amps specifically with good HE speakers is that listening to music with very HE speakers, like Avantgarde say, is like listening to music under a microscope. You will hear everything, both good, bad, noise etc. THe sound of tube amps in particular can vary widely but the best sounding tube amps to me are also the ones that sound most like the good SS amps I have heard. And the best ones I have heard accordingly tend to be very expensive (VAC, ARC, Audio Note, etc.)! HE speakers are of particular value with tube amps in that the efficiency helps keep power needs minimal which can help keep tube amp cost down as well. A good SET may be all that is needed, but even those can get somewhat pricey for a really good one.

I am very interested in finding the good bargain SETs out there as well.

A shockingly inexpensive tube amp that is also surprisingly quiet is the MiniWatt N3. Quieter than much more expensive tube amps I have tried. And only 3 tubes to roll, making it cheaper to try out tubes like Psvanes (which I love in mine). Might be a great back-up amp for the speakers you are interested in.