Good monitor speakers for 300B amps.


That is it. Let me know what you think, what you have heard, and what you have used in your system, and don't be afraid to offer an opinion even if you have absolutely no knowledge about the subject. 
128x128soundsrealaudio
The problem is you need efficiency to really hear what the amp can do.

With any SET, your normal high volume listening level should not exceed about 20-25% of full power that the amp makes, due to the excess distortion that will occur. The distortion manifests as 'dynamics' due to how the distortion components interact with the human ear.
This is one of the reasons people often think or say that 'its loud enough'; its not because it actually is- the 'loudness' they hear is being caused by distortion, not actual sound pressure.
The reason this is so is that the ear uses the higher ordered harmonics to sense sound pressure. When higher ordered harmonic distortion is present, the result is that it sounds louder when it really isn't.
To avoid this, a more efficient speaker is needed. If you want something smaller, about the only game in town is a higher efficiency full range driver, like a Lowther or PHY.
PHY has offered an open back cabinet for their 8" driver that is actually not very large and isn't expensive. Its good down to about 60 Hz or so and sounds pretty decent. Its efficiency is about 99db with the PHY driver. I'm not a fan of PHY, mostly because the product is not well supported after the fact (we had to recone one once and getting the parts was a nightmare- PHY was being pretty precious about them). But if you really want to hear what a lower power SET actually does, you need this sort of efficiency in most rooms.
In truth a horn system of 105db or more would be better, but that is hardly 'monitor' sized.
Well Grinnell is running 4 watts into a two way monitor speaker. Says it is dynamic and lifelike. I have heard the deCapos and run them with 8 watts and they are fine. For me a little to big a bass.