Hyperion HPS 968 or Coincident Total Victory IV

The Consonance 211 SET amps were an excellent match with Hyperion 938s. Tonally, they were perfectly balanced, and the bass and bass dynamics were better than with 200 watt solid-state monoblocks. Power was never lacking.

John Potis also raved about essentially the same combination (968s) as did Steve R. of Enjoy the Music, who bought both the 938s and the 211s after reviewing both.

Someone who refers to a 211 SET as 'flea-powered' must not have a lot of experience with SETs and/or be familiar with speakers that are truly a bear to drive (usually meaning poorly designed).

[However, choosing speakers first followed by amplifiers that mate with them is the most sensible path.]

Sorry, Dave, but oversimplification doesn't make one smarter.

Yes, we will agree that "16 watts is 16 watts" - only a moron could argue otherwise.

However:

- The beefy class A power supply of a SET is able to supply 16W continuous with no problems.

- It is well-known that SET amps are able to swing more voltage than their max wattage rating would imply for brief periods

- When they do clip, it is entirely benign and recovery is very fast.

The end result is that in the real world, a 16W SET can power speakers that the average, or even very good, class AB solid-sate amp of a similar power rating could never hope to.

Chamber music only?? How can you possibly think you can draw conclusion like this when you have evidently NEVER HEARD THE COMBO but I have OWNED it? Not to mention the two different reviewers who said things very differently?

Here are some numbers for you that you should be able to understand:

A 90 dB/W speakers gives you 90 dB with one watt input at 1m.

Adding the second speaker gives you another 3 dB - 93 dB.

Moving back 2.5M drops you about 10 dB - so at a typical listening distance we now have 83 dB with 1W.

86 dB with 2@, 89 dB at 4, and 92 dB at 8W.

I don't know how you listen, but 92 dB average SPL is PLENTY loud for most people on most music.

But wait - these are anechoic figures! We have totally ignored room gain, which as anyone who knows anything about acoustics will tell you is VERY substantial in any typical room.

Sorry to be blunt, but for someone to use their theoretical musings to tell people with actual experience that they're wrong and don't know what they're are talking about is really amazing.

I'm going to offer a few more comments for the benefit of the OP.

I really dug that Hyperions/211 combo. With the exception of a bit of bass bloominess - that 95% of ported enclosures suffer from - it did everything right. Or so I thought. Anyway, the Hyperion drivers are very, very smooth in the mids and highs, and the speakers flattered all music.

However, coming off of Lamhorns, I felt that dynamics were stifled - and I shouldn't have been surprised by that, and wasn't.

That was why I procured the 200W monos - I wanted to find out if it was a lack of power. IT WASN'T. The speakers were unable to reproduce strong macrodynamics, like an efficient horn can, no matter how much power they were fed.

I then setup my AER Lamhorns with the 938s for some back to back. I recall playing one track in particular - Barber's Mourning Grace - and the difference in the percussion impact between the two speakers astounded me. I decided that no matter how *good* (pleasant) the Hyperions sounded, I couldn't live with a speaker that so stifled dynamics.
In my quest for speakers that preserved the proper macro dynamics of acoustic instruments but did not suffer from any of the weaknesses (which, frankly, can be very small) of SD horns, I came upon two setups that met the challenge: Audio Note AN/Es and Supravox field-coil drivers on OB.

I've never had the pleasure of serious time with the Hornings or any time with the Carder speakers.

Dave_b, thanks for being gracious. Nobody has to like SET amps. While this amp/speaker combo could play loud enough for me (and more importantly was MORE dynamic that solid state amps of more than 10x the rated max output power), if your idea of 'loud' was 115 dB it would NOT do it. Probably not close. (95 dB peaks is as loud as I ever listen and I know it could do that.)

Joe, your thoughts here are very intelligent. As for subjective power of dual 300Bs vs a 211, I believe those transmitter triodes can push current unlike any low-power tube. But the low power triodes probably sound better in any sane implementation. Not the 300B, of course; the 45/2A3 is where it's at. :)

Bill, I liked the Lamhorns best with no sub. They went strongly down to 40 Hz which meant for acoustic jazz they had it all. For rock, no. If I had them now I'd be using the TBI subs I now have which are quite amazing subwoofers indeed. And R. Lamarre reportedly likes the Lamhorn with them as well.

Lastly, Bill, if you bought the pair of 211s on agon recently you bought my amps. Please take good care of Tori & Amanda.