Vandersteen 2C vs. Klipsch Cornwall

I recently had an enlightening experience with vintage horn loaded speakers in a second hand store. We connected the speakers to a Bogen integrated amp of the same vintage. The speaker wire was 24 gauge connected directly to the crossover. I put on a Sonny Rollins CD and my jaw hit the floor. I thought I was listening to a pair of Quads.
I concluded this terrific sound was partly due to the small speaker wire and the high efficiency speakers.

Vandersteen 2Cs will only play so loud. It doesn't seem to matter how much power you have the speaaker hits a brick wall. Besides, if you push the Vandersteens for long periods you ruin them. The crossover heats up and the result is damaged crossover parts. This is an ongoing problem with Vandersteen speakers.

I agree with Viridian, EL84 amplifiers can be amazing and very magical.

I own a Manley Stingray which is an amazing amplifier. I also own a vintage Sherwood S-5000 which uses a variant of an EL84. The Sherwood sounds so good it makes you wonder where audio has gone in the last 40 years.