what can I get by with?

Well it appears I was wrong on the spec. The Kestrel ( mine are hotrod ) is 89db. Most of what I am able to find about the reviews of SET ask for at least 90db. So maybe I can get lucky if I can find a SET with at least 20 watts? I remember I once ran 60 watt amps through Vandersteen 3a speakers. Something that some dealers advised agianst. The bass wasn't much but oh the midrange!

To bad Meadowlark is out of business, they would have my answer.

Now that is possible with a good 15 watts, if the speakers are an easy 89 dB. I run 89 dB speakers with a 14 wpc SET. Room isn't huge and I've never heard my amplifier congest. The more you turn in up the more open it becomes. Just get a REAL SET amp you'll probably be fine. Down the road you can mate it with a higher efficiency speaker like John Ks and reap all the benefits.

Here's some Omegas now:
Omega super 3

Dang! My internet conncetion has been going up and down lately. Too bad I'm still not employed at my local cable company, I would have it running as smooth as a SET amp :) Well anyway-

I'm not going to look for different speakers for a bit. But when I do..... I would look for something similar to my Meadowlarks. But something more sensivite, maybe time coherent? Anything out there?

As far as SET I will look for something American made. I'm assuming that stuff coming out of China I see on ebay would be a disappointment. I would love to try something like a cary 805C but it is out of my price range ( even used ) at the moment.

Anyone have a suggestion on a 300b or 845 in the 15-24 watt range, say about $3500-$6000 new?

thanks for all the suggestions!