AMT Tweeters integration

If you are open to buying used, wait and see if someone will sell you a Aspen FR10 from PS Audio at a price somewhere closer to your budget.

https://www.psaudio.com/products/aspen-fr10-loudspeaker?variant=47187108397346

I am not a fan of ps audio electronics all that much, but, their speakers are...quite nice. The ribbon midrange taking over 550hz onwards and the tweeter they have is a treat. Their speakers sound a lot better than a lot of high end junk.

If you are in the Denver area, stop by their factory for a listen. A tube amp won't cut it, however.

I listened to Dali Opticon 6 MK 2’s and they had detail and nice tone, filled my small room very nicely with a solid center image. They were easy to drive as well.

@toddalin I don’t care for my AMTs on my tube amp (80 wpc KT88s).  It rolls off the high end too much for my taste... The ESS AMTs are very efficient, but like high current.

IME It really comes down to the quality of the tube or SS amplifiers, iron, capacitance, and yes loads of current changes the result for sure.

I’ve run my last custom design DEC AMT-28 speakers with several different Class A Class AB tube amplifiers, including EL34, 6L6, KT88, KT120, KT150 amps, and various Class A / AB solid state amps - vintage, modern, custom.  Its been a hobby trying different amps with these speakers and priors built over past 45 years.

Lately I’ve been running them with my Pure Class A 50/100w solid-state MOSFET amp OR my Monoblock KT120/150 amps past few years. The best results and room filling sound and body with AMTs comes from a few of my specific amps with the biggest iron and capacitance, current. Light weight receivers don’t cut it at all, not listenable. 

The right amp(s) truly transforms how the speaker sounds overall, yet I do run dual 8" Nomex mid woofers for mid and low frequency, paired  with separate powered Scanspeak stereo subs.   imo 12" woofers within the same AMT speaker and larger woofer-drivers are just too slow to keep up no matter what amps you use, and leaves a hole in the midrange. I’m all about the midrange as a first priority though so I do tend to focus on this a lot.

My other ML Motion Series AMT speakers used in other systems don’t even come close in terms of scale and overall musicality for 2-channel audio stereo listening.

As for my  existing amps [love them] may get listed mid 2026, and I will be trying and possibly going back to even higher current dual mono amplifiers. These likely similar to what I’ve had in the past which worked amazingly well with this setup to bring out real body and control of the Great Heil Air Motion Transformer. 

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650274467-legacy-audio-signature-se/

Dali does not employ AMTs on any models.  Their supertweeter is more of a planar magnetic variety.  Peter Lingdorf, owner of Dali, has another brand built in the same factory called Radiant/Clarity that does use an AMT.  In your budget range I would focus on Wharfedale and Monitoir Audio for new but if a pair of old 1974-5 ESS AMT-1 Towers ever cross your path, pounce!