Watt Puppy 7/Ear 861

I have a ton of experience with the Watt Puppy's and although you will get sound with 30 watts, there is no way you will be doing any justice to either the amps or the speakers with that combination.

New amps or different speakers.

i had 20 watt SET's on Wp7 and have to say that the sound was spectacular, the wp's able to really show incredible delicacy and nuance and some friends who heard both systems said it was far better than 700 watt tubed monoblocks I had previous, but jtinn is correct in stating you will not get the best out of each component. What I will say is you should try it and see if you can live with the combination if you really like what you hear from your amps and can live without 90+db peaks.

dear mr wp7
if you really want to enjoy the wp7 and get the most form them is to save some money and buy the Spectral DMA 360 MONOBLOCK AMPs ,they are the most powerful high speed amplifier ever developed for high end music applications.they are also call ULTRAL fast amps !!
which you really really need for those speakers.so stop driving your self crazy cause i did that for a year till i found what works the best .
good luck
tony

fwiw i tried a 30w SET w/ my WP6s and while the sound was delicate bordering on heavenly (at times), the lack of power skewed the tonal balance too much, leaving the bottom end too reticent for realistic portrayals (to say nothing of dynamic constrictions)

i agree w/ jtinn.

rhyno

I've heard these speakers with a lot of different electronics and I would have to say that your degree of satisfaction would be entirely dependent on your expectations. While I have heard them sound quite beautiful with 17 wpc tube amps, in a small room, at reasonable volumes, I much prefer their sound with 100 or more robust tube watts. Their inimitable way of scaling dynamic swings, even with incredibly demanding operatic, orchestral, and big band recordings is not ideally served with less power. However, if you do not expect to play hugely dynamic recordings at live performance levels, this combination may prove wonderfully satisfying. I would strongly urge you to try the combination at home, or in circumstances that reasonable simulate your home environment. Only you can decide if the combination floats your boat.

Thank you all for your contributions, it was very interesting. I just want to say something about the EAR 861 monoblocs. They deliver 64W. I still haven't decided whether to get the WP7 or not, because they are much more expensive in Europe, than in the US. Alternavetly I am thinking of getting the Wilson Sophia.
Thank you again

that being the case, i can say that using a 55wpc SET on my WP6s is quite magical, and i won't be looking for amplification for some time.

rhyno