Celestion SL700 - matching amp?


Anyone have suggestions for powering celestion SL700's? Do they require lots of power or are they easy to drive?
cmohrhardt9161
I owned the SL700's for a few years and found that they do take some power to get the best bass response possible - which can be very good. As you probably know, they are a sealed box with low sens (84dB sens). The trick I found was not to use them in a large room, where the power demands increase with the need to raise the sound pressure. The absolutely best setup I had was in a room 12x11 feet. In this case the VTL Compact100 monos (about 100 watts) drove them extremely well, producing prodigious bass and scary-amazing imaging. Because they are very revealing, you will need a high-quality amp preferrably of a high-current design. The Muse solidstate amps might be a good choice, but I found the SL700 works extremely well with quality tube amps as well--just try it in a smaller room. By the way, they love XLO cable. Good luck.
They require lots of power to sound their best. They are quite inefficient. A wonderful speaker that throw a wide, deep and transparent soundstage. Surprising bass for their size. Unfortunately, Celestion no longer have replacement drivers. That's why I got rid of mine.
I totally agree with gordon, 700's and VTL are made for each I have spent many hours enjoying that combination. If your room is not very large, the triode mono blocks are very tasty. Of course if your room is very large the 700's are probably not the best choice. Enjoy.
I am currently driving a pair of sl700's with an audio research vt100mk2 and the sound is incredible, do not underestimate the potential of these speakers with the right equiptment they are outstanding.