Calling all SET fans

I used various amps I had at the time ,smallest was a low powered bottleneck I borrowed to use with my

bottleneck pre, I think it was about 5 watts but no set of course.
But I've heard the 4 " Fostex many times in many systems, the upper mids are just plain rough ,at least the way my ears work. They can be overall OK, but the hemp drivers Omega uses
now are far better .
I've never hears a real SET rig, as least as far as I can remember .

Smallest amp I used was a bottleneck , I had a bottleneck pre at the time . I think it was about 5 watts but no set of course.
But I've heard the 4 " Fostex many times in many systems, the upper mids are just plain rough ,at least the way my ears work. They can be overall OK, but the hemp drivers Omega uses
now are far better .
I've never hears a real SET rig, as least as far as I can remember .
I'm leaning to have Sean at ZU make me a used Omen for classical on that $999 "Dirty" deal they have on their website . Not least because the ZU Event wire I have is VERY good . And I enjoy the placement fuss the Omens seem to require .

A few watts shows its limitations most with lower frequencies. Either the speakers have to make up for the lack of muscle needed to produce quality bass by being very large and if also good quality very expensive, or else you have to punt on the bass to some extent with the speakers depending on your needs. You can have 2 or three bass, efficiency, or small size but not all three.

I heard large more expensive and "efficient" Zus off a set amp at a show a few years back. Sounded very good for smaller scale classical works but not for works requiring more power and muscle in the delivery. The Zu guy admitted the SET was underpowered for all kinds of music. He chose his demos carefully to play well within the limitations until I asked for something more challenging.

I think my little Titus speakers could have done equally well as the Zus (Essence I believe) with the music demoed. If they had used a more suitable powered amp then I think the results may have justified the cost of those Zus. The demo was clearly put together to convince people the Zus were suitable for use with a SET amp but they were definitely quite limited depending with the SET.

So I take all adverts regarding teh capabilities of "high efficeincy" speakers off a few watts of power with grains of salt. Maybe in some cases.

The only demo I have ever heard where a flea powered set performed top notch with all kinds of music involved very high efficiency, large and expensive custom Goto horns. I suspect other very high efficiency horns like Avantegarde can do the job as well. But I doubt any speakers are efficient enough to truly perform top tier off a few watts in lieu of being highly horn loaded to gain the efficiency needed. Even then large bass units are required to fill in the low end.

So I think one just has to be realistic about the limitations. For smaller rooms, lower volumes, and music forms where lower octaves do not mean much, you are golden with smaller high quality moderate efficiency speakers in many cases, but the ante increases exponentially from there.

Thanks Map, great post !

Having said all that, being one who is always ont eh lookout for something a little different, I greatly look forward to testing the SET amp waters myself someday soon starting with modest expectations 9and my triangle Titus speakers if I still have them)and seeing where things might go from there.