I would suggest tubes in your preamp and a ss amp. With a tubed front end I really like my Nuforce Reference 9 V3SE's due to low heat and great sound. They easily fill a 28X38 foot room. Also lots of respect for Pass XA.5 series
Help with amplifier choice
I really like my speakers, Montana XP and the amps that I have tried are W4S ST1000, Cary 500MB and Cary SLI-80. The W4S and Cary 500 were very similar with the "nod" going to the Cary 500MB, but the SLI-80 sounds the best of the 3. I only wonder if the SLI-80 which I prefer in triode mode (40 WPC) is enough power for such a large, multi driver, steep crossover speaker as the XP is. (92 db/W 4 Ohms). So I have been thinking of other amps like ARC, Pass, Modwright, Ayre, other Cary tube amps, and on and on. Thankfully I'm not an impulsive buyer or I would have 10 amps by now.
Can anyone guide me through this jungle of amps? At the least I would like to determine SS vs. tube. My room is large (35x22x10, a very open floorplan) I lean towards a SS for convienence, but I like the sound of the SLI-80 the best of those 3. I'm kind of stuck here and would absorb all and any comments to help me edit my choices. I live in Florida so I would like to avoid "room heater amps", Thanks
Can anyone guide me through this jungle of amps? At the least I would like to determine SS vs. tube. My room is large (35x22x10, a very open floorplan) I lean towards a SS for convienence, but I like the sound of the SLI-80 the best of those 3. I'm kind of stuck here and would absorb all and any comments to help me edit my choices. I live in Florida so I would like to avoid "room heater amps", Thanks