Hey Bmwhaus
I've owned both. I sold my AE1's MKII for $700US, but there was marks and scratches on them. Undamaged I could have gotten $1000-$1100us easy. The AE1's gave you about 85-90% of the AE1 Signatures, The differences were the Sigs were a little more transparent, and had slightly better dynamics. These speakers indeed sound best with tubes. Most solid state amps will sound thin/digital/ bright as these are very fast and very revealing speakers, with the treble sounding bright and fatiguing in the wrong system. The base is ever so gently humped around 80hz-120hz by about 3-5db's so pick other components that arent 'fat' in the bottem end. Hope this helps
dudeaudio
I've owned both. I sold my AE1's MKII for $700US, but there was marks and scratches on them. Undamaged I could have gotten $1000-$1100us easy. The AE1's gave you about 85-90% of the AE1 Signatures, The differences were the Sigs were a little more transparent, and had slightly better dynamics. These speakers indeed sound best with tubes. Most solid state amps will sound thin/digital/ bright as these are very fast and very revealing speakers, with the treble sounding bright and fatiguing in the wrong system. The base is ever so gently humped around 80hz-120hz by about 3-5db's so pick other components that arent 'fat' in the bottem end. Hope this helps
dudeaudio