This time it's about the QUALITY, not QUANTITY of the WATTS! 

Love the comments, thanks guys! Many comments from folks correctly questioning the RP600's high sensitivity spec, but whatever the actual spec is many RP600 owners are finding joy with low power amps! The naysayers are merely speculating, based on guessing. When it comes to opinions, they carry more weight when they're based on experience.

These album recommendations are golden

"Hey Hun, what should we listen to tonight?" "Um...I dunno. Let's see what Guttenberg is playing." Beyond the music discovery, for me, this was just one of your best videos. Thanks!

You open a window on a world of equipment and music quite unlike anyone on the internet. While I might not always share your taste in music, your insights and knowledge are priceless. Thank you.

Always so nice to hear you talk about the music you test your hardware on. So much passion and enthusiasm! Thanks for sharing it with us all. 🙂

Years ago I listened to a 1watt per channel David Berning amplifier drive a pair of Klipsh floor standing R-f7 speakers to loud levels and the sound was fabulous .

Steve, I absolutely love your videos. You have to be one of the most relatable audiophiles out there. Always entertaining yet always informative.

Steve listening to you the past few months has motivated me. I pulled my Marantz 4270 out of storage, bought a new cart and stylus for my Technics SL-D2, and am now listening to vinyl again. Since I took the bigger RF-3-II's for the "stereo" I bought a set of the Klipsch RP-160M's for the family room 5 channel AV stuff and am very impressed with those little beasts as well. Thanks for the virtual kick in the tail to get me moving/listening again!

I bought the Reisong A10 and a pair of Klipsch RP-600M based on your recommendations about half a year ago, and I absolutely love them. I play CDs and Records, and they sound phenomenal. I’m super happy with my system. Thank you, Steve.

Hey Steve, this is a great rundown about using low power amps. I got into the DIY audio projects years ago and built from scratch a pair 2A3 single end triode amps from an article in sound practice magazine. They made around 3.5 watts depending on the harmonic distortion. I absolutely loved them, and listened to them exclusively for years. I had them hooked up to ProAc studio 1’s 89 dB or ProAc super towers 90 or 91 dB sensitivities. I have a Conrad-Jonson premier 11,70 watts , that sat in the corner as backup. I was in smaller rooms usually, and I am not a loud listener, but things could get loud enough to bother others in the house. But most importantly, the music was wonderful. I am so glad that you expanded that more power, and better quality are not tied together. All to often quality and quantity are used interchangeably, and this is a great example demonstrating that they are not. Sometimes more is just more.

Love my low watt SET Unison Research Simply Italy tube amplifier driving my Pure Audio Project Trio 15. And man, it goes really loud and really deep. Steve is absolutely right.

Just finished ACA kit #2. Playing these two amps or the reisong a10 through my Klipsch rp280f speakers, I have no problem filling my large house with music. Great topic, here!

Thanks, Steve, for your insightful reviews. Long ago, I settled on a Cary 300-SEI amp, matched to Jamo Concert 8 speakers, and I have never wanted to upgrade these. I have admired your views since the old Listener days.

Cheers Steve, you have had me smiling tonight! Neither my main or office system makes it to 10W and they continue to surprise those that get to sit and listen and them. Speaker choice is all important and both have a pair of single driver Omega Loudspeakers.

As one gets older and wiser in the hi-fi game, you begin to realize how less and less you need to "Rock Da House" like when you were much much younger. Steve hit the mark on this one, again. It is vey much about quality over quantity.

Right on, Steve! I’ve got a pair of Klipsch KG3.2s from the early’90s. I drive them with a Sansui AU-555 integrated amp, 20 watts per channel, that I bought on Rush Street, in Chicago, back in the summer of 1972. The amp rarely gets turned up past 30% power, and it fills my space with luscious, warm music. Still , I do daydream about building an Ampcamp kit! 🔥👍👍

Steve: thanks for doing the video. This is the topic I have been waiting for you to discuss.

Hi Steve, I follow your tips. I bought a pair of RP-600M. Now I drive it with a DIY amplifier class AB with old Japan MOS J50 and K135; great music come out from the klipsch. I m starting to build a tubes amplifier with EL84 valves ( like Dacwere, 2W per channel). Thanks a lot

Nice points. Wish these choices were available when I was young. Looks like one could put together an amazing hi-fi on the cheap. Thanks.

Steve, I previously commented on your A10 review video, but I'll comment again here. I'm absolutely smitten with my A10 combined with my Klipsch R-15Ms. I recently purchased R-51Ms with this amp in mind but the R-15Ms are slightly more sensitive, and being somewhat shallower, look better in the room where I have the A10. This combination can play louder than I have ever played music in this room, and the amp doesn't break a sweat. Thanks for leading me down the path to better sound.

Another awesome video. You are churning out awesome content at the moment and it’s keeping me sane during lockdown. Big love from the U.K.!

Your new room setup...yay!

nice work Steve... great affordable equipment allowing people on a budget to experience music with qualities that will keep them engaging their music with joy👍

I love conceptual videos like this. I've got a Nobsound 6P1 (that's the tube that powers the input/output) 6.3 W per channel tube amp and I absolutely love it! I got a pair of floor standing Fluance X8LF speakers and they get plenty loud, more than I need and the sound-stage is quite broad and holographic, at least to my ears. The sound is very rich and with the addition of some Russian 6P1P tubes the bass goes down lower than before most wonderfully. I've got a Zen Triode on order and I'm sure it's going to get to me one of these days, but until I'm very satisfied with the watts that I gots. ;) My solid state amp is a Schiit Vidar with 100Watts into 8 ohms and it's very clean and a wonderful amp. But something about tubes makes things better.

I have the Klipsch RP 600M , the Kef LS50 with the Reisong A10 and the Denon PM600 NE.The Klipsch with the Reisong A10 sounds fenomenal.I can,t stop listening to this combination the KT88 tubes sounds very good too with a little bit more base as the EL34.Thank you very much for this very nice video👍

yep im getting up in years and the low lush power of tube amps ROCK my world

Thanks for this video - I'm using RP600m and A10 - with Gold Lion Tubes also have the Vista Audio Spark - first version...

Several years ago I built an ELEKIT TU-870R with my son, who was about ten years old at that time. Two watts per channel through a pair of 6BM8s. We hooked it up to my Focal Chorus 706s for testing... holy crap. In every good way, it blew me away. Deep, detailed, airy, and way more 'oomph' than I would ever have expected. No problem filling a decent-sized room with more than enough sound.

Glad I watched this, just ordered q acoustics 3020 to replace the speakers on my Denon DT-1 and was concerned about only having 15 watts per channel.

I am using a 6.5 W per channel integrated amp with a pair of 90dB B&Ws and it works very well indeed!!!

I own a monster of an amp with over 125 WRMS x 5. I also have the A10. The monster amp is good for home theater but for music the A10 is sweetest. Also, tube rolling can be a lot of fun as it changes the amps sound. Both amps drive my Elac Debut 2.0 F6s (87dB) very well.

I use a couple of TA2024 Class D power amps hooked up to a pair of low-efficiency Acoustic Energy AE1 MK2 speakers with a Creek OBH-22 passive pre and it's sublime! The amplifier set up shifted my Cyrus Pre and mono blocks and even an Audio Note Pre I had at one stage. I've also tried the AEs with some serious watts from Rotel and I stick with the tiny Class D box. The boss at Audio Note UK called me a 'heathen'... It was in jest, absolute top bloke as are you Steve :D I have a few other set ups with Alexander SE2 speakers, TDL Studio 0.5s and so on but all powered by the little amps. I try other amps but keep coming back to these. The circuit board is the Helder HiFi TA2024 Mk2.

I voiced the amp camp amp and the korg B1 preamp on a pair of Klipsch RP 5000 S speakers after I constructed both. They were all a gift for my son and the sound was amazingly powerful for such a low wattage amplifier. Another commentor suggested to choose which way you want to go and I think that’s the best answer.

I love my Reisong Boyuu A10 amp paired with Klipsch Forte 3 speakers. It's very musical combination and comfortably fills a very large room.

I am playing Wharfdale Diamond 9.0's off a 5 watt 6 ohms amp on a secondary system in my conservatory - full of hard surfaces, and while the volume is not there the sound quality is and the volume is more than adequate for the purpose! Able to throw away the cheap speakers that came with the system, utilise redundant speakers and am very satisfied with a result I did not expect.

Steve, that Max Richter album is something else, I still have about a half of it to get through, but man, that's enjoyable!

Whatever works for you is the way to go. Regardless of the 'opinions' of others. :D

I have my Klipsch Heresy's for main L and R, using that A10 tube amp, its feeding from Denon X3500H AVR pre-outs. This works for movies too, i just calibrated the A10 amps own volume knob + pre-out levels to match the other speakers. I settled to Denon's pre-out level at almost max and the A10 volume knob only needs to be around 9 clock for best signal to noise ratio, calibration to match the ref volume scale displayed on the Denon's display. I rarely go over 80dB in my apartment so this works nicely ! I can now listen whole day without any fatigue compared to plain Denon's solid state. Currently using 6N2P-EV pre and Tung-Sol EL34B power tubes.

I built a Decware DIY SE84 amp and use it with a pair of Tekton Mini Lore's in my office. It is a fantastic combo.

Steve, you’re so right. I always thought, the more watts the better. I live in a basement apartment on Long Island and realized after purchasing an onkyo 75 wpc solid state, that I never listen to loud music except for headphone listening. So about 6 months ago I got the A10. I love it!!!!!! I mostly listen to old jazz now, and I’m in audiophile heaven.thanks Steve

Recently found a rare pair of vintage high sensitivity Isofonic and using them with a vintage single ended RCA tube amp. Gorgeous sound

Again a very nice video Steve, great music reviews. My humble 2 cents as a rule of thumb for small amps....and yes, they can sound like they were built by angels. The efficiency of the speaker is important information about the interaction with a petite amplifier but it does not tell the whole story. Some types of speakers actually always work well with small amplifiers, full horns, so also in the bass, such as a Klipsch LaScala and small bookshelf speakers, as here in the video. In these two cases, the small amplifier does not have to control a large bass cone, but the speaker dampens itself quite well. There are large conventional bass speakers with high efficiency. Some might work well, such as Steve's Cornwalls, because the bass diaphragm is relatively hard sprung, just like in a guitar amp. I'd be interested in Steve's impression of whether that works. But I have, for example, big old 15 inch Tannoy Canterbury in normal bass reflex cabinets. They don't work at all with small amps, like my Leak Stereo 20 or an Audion 300B. Even if the efficiency of the Tannoy is huge. A small 6 watt amp can't drive the big heavy bass cone in a controlled way if it is soft sprung and has 260 liters of air in the cabinet. Therefore, with small amplifiers in combination with speakers with high efficiency, my tip is to take small bookshelf speakers or bass horns or bigger speakers with a stiff cone suspension.

I built two Amp Camp Amps over two separate long weekends. I have a fair amount of kit building experience (built many HeathKits back in the day), and the best advice I can give is to take your time and not rush the build. While not a terribly difficult kit to build, it does require going back and forth between two different sets of instructions to get the full picture of how to assemble the chassis and to view the wiring layout. Anyway, my kits worked on the first power-up to the slow and deliberate approach paid off. They are driven in mono-block to a pair of Klipsch RP600 Ms (fed by a Schitt Freya+ preamp with NOS Raytheon mil-spec tubes which are a bit of an overkill). The sound is glorious. I don't quite understand the RP's nay sayers. I totally agree with Steve, i.e. the better you feed the RPs, the better they sound

My 807SE amp puts out about 0.3W-0.4 into my 16 ohms Altec speakers. (All designed and built by yours truly.) It does go pretty loud and low, can reach 100dB/m, and I do get potent content below 20Hz. It opened a new dimension on playing Prodigy, LOL! :) Before this little amp, I had no idea Prodigy had such textured and varied bass lines - even on superb systems it sounds as boom - boom - boom... :) Plays Mahler symphonies, Pink Floyd albums and Mike Oldfield's new Return to Ommadawn with the feel of live concerts. Not blow your ears loud, still, loud enough to give a feel of a live rock concert. Indeed, low power amplification is underrated. However, to be truthful, the "little" amp has a massive power supply capable of feeding a 300W amp. The feel of impact and base comes from the reserves of the power supply. The power limits the raw maximum SPL, but tells little otherwise of the sonic qualities. With 86dB/Wm low sensitivity Mirage 760 speakers this same amp puts out about a watt of power, but it's still enough to get a feel as if The Cranberries were having a live concert in my living room. Again, not enough for the hearing impaired, but enough to give a major adrenaline rush - with clear, undistorted sound.

Great video, I learned a lot on this one, thank you so much.

At 17.5 WPC the tubed Dynaco "Stereo 35" is still a lovely amplifier with 6BQ5 tubes! Drives my Klipsch RP-600, and my KEF LS50 perfectly! Lovely!

Amp power, in a given iteration, and how far to get with its stated wattage output is relative to speaker efficiency and the overall load it presents, as has been pointed out. Some speakers with complex, passive cross-overs can drain many a (on paper) higher powered amp so to make its rated output power and claimed speaker sensitivity a nebulous number - i.e.: far lower than what specs would suggest - just as well as a rugged, well-developed PSU of a power amp can make few watts seem somewhat "larger" being more resilient to speaker load. The perhaps more pressing matter is maintaining an effortless presentation at every SPL one would care for (not least live levels) with a range of speaker loads and typically low to moderate sensitivity, and this mostly requires much more power than one would imagine, while it may seem at first that less would do.

Funny to see remarks about the RP-600M’s. I’ve owned them for about a year. They’re quite amazing . The price has dropped a little making them an absolute bargain. I recently added the REL 5 Ti subwoofer and I’m just blown away by my sound sound system.

Mega OT. Who is the typical audiophile. 1. Mostly male. 2. Mostly middle age or aged. 3.His musical interest goes beyond one genre. 4. Insatiable curiosity about hi fi components. 5.His best speaker his the next one. 6 Dedicates at least one hour of pure musical listening daily. 7.He's happy with background music while doing other things. 9. While watching movies pays a lot of attention to the sound effects and considers a real torture having no other option but incorporated TV speakers. 10. His audiophile's best friend rig sounds better even though it is cheaper then his. Did I forget anything. Open for suggestions

I am using the late Don Garber's Fi X4 (Type 46) amplifier at 1.5 watts/channel. Great sound with horn speakers. I am a happy man.

I'm using Klipsch R 51m at 93dm and Q acoustic 3050 floor standers at 92db. I use them both with my home built single ended 4w class A valve amp and they sound fantastic.

Hi, last summer I bought the Reisong A10 which I use together with DIY Cornwall clones, Klonwall. I also use a Schitt preamplifier for my Lenco L78S. Plenty of quality sound in my 25 x 20 feet living room. All equipment bought after your recommandations Steve. Couldn't be happier with a total investment of only 1700 euro. I am also going to buy the RP 600 I think, out of curiosity. Maarten, Netherlands

I recently sold my old B&W DM 110i speakers to a gentleman who inherited a vintage Marantz 2010 receiver. With 10WPC, It was a great combination. So much so, that the buyer is now researching turntables and better DACs. So, I guess you can say: “my work here is finally done “.

I am currently using a 12-watt amplifier by Sophia Electric. It is beautiful and it sounds surprisingly powerful!

I’ve had my 2.3 watt Decware for about 2 months with RP600Ms. Recently purchased a set of Heresy IVs and they sound awesome, plenty enough volume for my taste!

Used an Audio Innovations (defunkt UK company) series 300 which claimed 12wpc but on review produced about 9wpc. The little pentode tubes produced a really lively sound full of musical expression and instrumental timbre. It made all the solid state amps sound sterile. Worked great with B&W 110 and Impulse H6 horn loaded loudspeakers. Moved on to a KT88 kit amp at 28wpc. This was better at low bass and more even sounding but lost some of the immediacy of the 9wpc amp and failed to pull out as much of the micro dynamic expression and emotion, whether it be rock guitar playing, vocals, classical or even Japanese drumming. I still have both amps and the horns; you’ve made me think about getting them set up again.

Another great review video from Steve. Steve said he wanted to hear about others' experiences with low power tube amps, so here's mine. The speakers that I use with the low power tube amps: Main speakers: Caintuck Audio Betsy open baffle speakers (95 dB per Watt efficiency in the open baffle dipole configuration, 5.9 Ohm nominal impedance) Subwoofer: Caintuck Audio 12" Alpha Bass open baffle powered subwoofer (with Dayton Audio SA-100 100 W subwoofer plate amplifier with crossover) handling frequencies at 125 Hz and below. Super Tweeters: Aperion Audio MKII Planar-Ribbon Super Tweeter Pair with the high pass frequency set at 10 kHz The low power tube amps that I use: MP-301 Mk3 Deluxe: 6.5 W per channel Thumbnail review: Most punchy and dynamic of the three amps listed here. Best pace, rhythm, and timing (PRAT) of these three amps. Excellent clarity with some tubey richness and resonance, but not as rich and resonant as the other two amps. Special affinity with guitar recordings. KOHSTAR Old Buffalo 6C19 Tube amplifier: 6 W per channel Thumbnail review: Midway in punchiness, dynamics, PRAT, and tubey richness of these three amps. A great all rounder. Cayin HA-1A version 1: 1.2 W per channel Triode mode 2.2 W per channel Ultralinear mode Thumbnail review: Punchier and more dynamic in Ultralinear mode, but richer and more resonant in Triode mode. Even in Ultralinear mode, it is not quite as punchy and dynamic as the Old Buffalo. In Triode mode, it is the richest and most resonant of these three amps. However, it's lack of dynamics and punch make it unsuitable for large orchestral works and high power rock, pop, soul, and blues music. But it is the best of these three amps for more laid back and intimate recordings. All three amps have excellent soundstage depth and width, with the soundstage expanding well beyond the outer sides of the speakers if the recording has that spatial information, such as the Chesky binaural recording of Wycliffe Gordon's album "Dream of New Orleans." Instrument localization is very good, but not with artificially etched edges so that the sounds have a more natural and realistic blend or connectivity throughout the soundstage such as I have heard in live, unamplified concerts. The images have body and weight - there's meat on the bones, as they say. Transients are fairly fast, but not artificially nor edgily fast, and there is very good sustain of the note decays. Tonality is excellent with faithful reproduction of instrumental timbres and overtones. The bass is fairly taut and articulate, but not as taut and articulate as some other speakers and subwoofers used with higher powered solid state amplifiers. That being said, the bass is definitely not muddy, wooly, nor flabby with these amps and speakers, but neither is it the last word in tightness and articulation. Note that I listen in a small room in the near-field of the speakers about 4-5 feet away from the speakers with the speakers about 3 feet from the wall behind them. I like jazz, standards, broadway, exotica, blues, soul, folk, classical, opera/lieder, and some pop-rock music, but not hard, metal, punk, or grunge rock.

Lovely video from Steve.

I have a collection of 70's monster receivers. Like the Kenwood model 11G. But my Reisong A10 just blows me away. Not sure it could drive a sub but a fantastic amp.

Soo, I've got a Marantz PM6006 (45W in 8ohms). I focused more on having a pair of speakers that were easier to drive and finally settled on the Triangle Borea BR03, which is a GREAT match. I get the soundstage, the punchyness, the clarity I need from this system and it's also relatively affordable. Just completed my setup with a Network Streamer, the NA6006, from the same range and man, do these sound impressive together! (With Ecrosse RCA analogue cables) Also, to top things up, I learned that Spotify is launching lossless CD-quality streaming (with Spotify Connect, supported by the NA6006!) later this year, what a treat!

I have an RME ADI-2 DAC feeding two balanced monoblock Amp Camp amps powering a pair of Zu Omen DWs. Not only does it sound superb, it can get uncomfortably loud in my room. And I like loud. That said, as monoblocks they put out 15 watts each. But for the money, it's killer.

Thank you for that review! I just ordered a Reisong A10 and I look forward to trying it with my Lowther Acousta speakers soon. Also, your music reviews always cost me a ton of money as I keep ordering about half of them :-) Thank you for those music suggestions! (How can you monetize them?)

My first amp, circa 1967, was an 8 watt either Heatkit or Dynaco amp, with my dad’s garrard TT and a pair of Koss gel filled headphones. Sounded great to me. Maybe it’s time to go back and try one of these.

Pulled a pair of Angstrom bookshelf out of my basement. Wow 😮 sounds great. Very very surprised. Thanks. Made in Canada 🇨🇦 Cheers 🍻 EH!

Pure gold Steve. It's what we need to hear about Audio. I'm running dual Leak TL12s at 12 watts each and I use them to drive the infamous ELAC UB 5s. The sound is surprisingly good but, of course, I'm always wondering what more efficient speakers would do. Thanks for this video

It's probably good practice to determine how you plan to drive speakers before you buy a specific set. I bought some Elac Debut 6 bookshelf speakers and they're rather ordinary running directly off my AVR. Ordered a Crown 2 channel amp in order to bring them to life.

Gotta love the Amp Camp!

Love the 600M even blow me away after the GR research upgraded crossovers! Oh boy

I love my old and simple but well-made form follows function design Don Garber Fi 2A3's, the 3.5 watts really surprised me. Can drive the 86dB 2-way speakers on hand but really better suited to the 89 - 90dB 2-way's (and higher), all of the "easy-load" speaker category. Still, at comparable listening levels, there is an "ease", a difference in terms of speed and dynamics when driving the 92dB Mark Audio or the 96dB Fostex wide-band drivers in my collection of gear. I'm now leaning toward front horn designs. Perhaps one of these days I'll get to play around with something from Voxitiv and or Cube Audio F8 Neo drivers. Btw, how about giving us single-digit SET amp reviews of some of the 2K - 12K $$$ range? I'd like to have a better idea of what's worth having these days and what to run from, not that I'd expect you to address the latter, LOL! You know, going on specs, build quality, and parts used, I'm having a hard time understanding how some of the current products are getting away with what they are charging. A lot of expensive gear with slick-looking cosmetics on the outside only to have cheap circuit boards and low-cost parts written up to give the impression of quality parts when they're anything but. Years spent in bookstores (remember bookstores?), reading Vacuum Tube Valey and Glass Audio (most articles were over my head), have me critically looking at product and wanting to barf when I see what the new gear cost, even on the used market! Oh, and maybe review a kit like the Bottlehead new MonoAmour 2A3 and Elekit TU-8600S?

Great review Steve. I've enjoyed your channel for some time now. I have a question perhaps you (or others) can answer. I currently do not own a quality 2-channel amp. I've just been switching my Yamaha Aventage RX-A2060 AV receiver into bypass for music to my Klipsch RP-820F speakers. I'm considering the dive into the low-power Reisong. However, I stream virtually all my music (DNLA and Tidal). Will I be defeating the purpose of the amp upgrade if I just use the AV pre-outs for my signal or should I be exploring a streaming dac?

Hi, my name is Carey, and I'm a tube-a-holic. I'm running an Emotiva SE8 subwoofer (for bass management, as well as bass extension) into an A10 driving Klipsch RB 61 IIs. I have the Klipschs on stands as near field monitors at my computer desk, and 80 db average is no problem. I could go higher, but I value my hearing. ;-D I find the combination of the A10 and the Klipsch bookshelves amazing. The A10 measures as being rolled off above 2,000 Hz, but that's not a problem, because the Klipsch speakers are bright enough (especially near field) that they balance each other out. Next year, I'm planning on setting up a dedicated listening room. I'm looking at a Boyuurange Reisong A50 (300B tubes, 7.6 wats/channel) driving either Klipsch RP-600Ms, Triangle Genese Trios, or Zu Dirty Weekends. I'm leaning towards the Dirty Weekends, depending on when Zu offers them again.

Very agree that is why I love 45 SE 2 watts. with 90db Speaker or higher

I have been waiting for this..

Great work Steve i loved the theme of today i was great for me because im going to buy a new amp and the douts are many . I buy recently the speakers Klipsch rp 180 f and bluesound node that i have connected to my Vintage amp nakamichi amplifier 2 that have 50w per channel that i whant to change because o only use aux imput and i whant better apind quality

Hi Steve. Recently I moved to low power amps and really liked them. I think they do something, like the immediacy and coherence of sound that few expensive high power amps can do. However I am struggling to find makers of high sensitivity speakers. Despite the big low sensitivity ecosystem, the high sensitivity looks like limited to few popular brands like Klipsch, Zu audio and omega and other more expensive like Devore fidelity and audio note. Would you make a video about high sensitivity loudspeaker, the makers and your opinion about this market?

Thanks for the video Steve! It helps my search for speakers to pair with my first tube amp, vintage Scott 222. Aside from Klipsch, any other brands/models that are highly efficient? Most of the ones I find are usually below 90db. Btw, great music selection as well.

I hope this one gets lots of views as it couldn't be more spot-on. I run either an 18 watt First Watt SIT3 with a Pass P12 pre or an 8 watt Boyuu Reisong a50 both with a Denefrips Pontis DAc. I am in a smallish room with speakers of my own design and build. I have yet to find myself wishing for more volume or dynamics.

Great topic! Just went through this process myself but got slightly different results. Have a Decware Zen and tried 1) KEF q150 about 86db and 2) Klipsch 600m about 96db And if I’m honest BOTH speakers after about 80db with any bass in the track whatsoever started clipping/distorting quite audibly. (Acoustic / lighter music you could go up to 85db with clean sound.) it was just too quiet under 80db for me to enjoy the music in my smaller 10x12 room. So my next move was trying some Omega monitor speakers rated at 94-95db BELOW the Klipsch but clean volume is almost DOUBLE! Klipsch over rating the sensitivity?? No comparison in volume. Can hit 85-90db cleanly on the Omegas. Wanted to share in case anyone else thinking of these combinations. Decware is 2.3 watts and sounds unbelievably good. But only a HANDFUL of speakers match it in my opinion. Reisong A10 at 6 watts may drive the Klipsch to a nicer volume I’d guess.

I have a Audion Silver Night 300B power tube amp with volume control,it is rated at only 7 watts in pure class A,no feedback and hard wired,my speakers are from Audiovector the R-1 Signature,i play in a small room only 4x5 meters and boy its sounds really good deep bass and very transparant and above all very smooth.

I remember my school time and somebody I knew well who wanted to start his own what we called back then "drive in disco", basically a DJ with his gear. Only he did not have all gear yet. Just many records, two idler wheel turn tables and speakers. But I had an old 1X30W Philips tube amplifier with 6 mono mixing channels. And I lend it to him. This one X 30W amplifier was enough to power a party of about 100 people and rock the joint. Later he added a 2 x 175 W RMS, amplifier to his gear and then an other friend of mine build an additional 2 x 250W RMS amplifier + two more speakers (if you powered it on, the lights would dip for the inrush current) By that time you could literally empty the venue by turning up the volume knob.

Moved from Naim Xs to Reisong A10 with BW 706s2 and totally happy. Miss some grunt, punch and pace?...maybe, but now I can hear music whithout the sensation of disturbing everybody

Finally, another person who actually gets how great Amy Winehouse was. Good review of some affordable gear, I've got an A10 and 2 x ACA's, really dig the low watt thang too.

I assembled Japanese DIY Elekit TU-8200R SET amp with 8 WPC and plugget it into Omega Alnico high output monitors (USA) with 97 dB. The volume pot cannot exceed 9 o'clock if I do not want to disturb my neighbors. An excellent combination, a beautiful sound.

HiFiKlubben Stavanger, 🇳🇴, played B&W803D3 with a 80watts NAD, and they played Loud! And fairly good

Love the Marie Kondo room treatment.

I have the Vista SparkII and at full volume I cant be in the room, our living room is about 19m2, the spark is connected to a par of Buchards (88dB sensitivity, imp 4ohm), the combo is great to me. Neil Young's Homegrown sounds amazing from this little amp. To enjoy in low watt amps I would recommend from the artist Spinetta the CD Estrelicia, an MTV unplugged from 96, really good sounding record and from Haruomi Hosono the CD Hosono House from 73.

Currently using the Reisong A10 with a pair of 96db KLH Kendall towers, that 6wpc does an amazing job!

Funny I come across this while being lazy in the garage listening to music and looking through RU-vid.. I’ve got 2,000 square-feet down here, and all I use is a 28 year old Sony 2-channel stereo powering a pair of Infinity Reference 2000.3 bookshelf speakers with about 15 watts each. Clean, clear, and loud enough to fill the space to my liking.

I have built a couple different versions of the DIY F5. The satisfaction of listening to something you built is on another level. I honestly wouldn't trade my DIY amp for one of his commercial products. Highly recommended if you have the skill set to build one

Chuck Harris 6 years ago I built Engineer, Gordon Rankin's "Bugle 45" power amp. It uses the 1930's # 45 tube capable of only 2 watts output power. I built speaker cabinets 47 inches tall, 24 inches wide and 16 inches deep. In the bottom of the speaker cabinet is an "Eminence Delta Pro" 15 inch speaker, with 80 ounce magnet and 101.6 db sensitivity. In the top of the speaker cabinet is a JBL 939 midrange and tweeter configuration at 94 db sensitivity. An Eico ST 84 preamp with upgrades, which drives the Power Bugle 45 amp. You can't believe the "sound quality" and how loud this thing can get. I will never get rid of it.

Cool review, Steve Encouraged me to fire up my Silk Audio (50w pentode / 25w triode) tube amp and Rega Naos (92db) speakers. Tubes are magic :-) Unfortunately they WON'T even start to drive the Magnepan LRS which need CURRENT and watts. Did you try the LS50/Meta with these amps? I'll be checking out the music recommendations, thanks 👍

I keep thinking about the 8W per channel Western Electric tube amps driving WE horns in all those theatres. When I hear these systems in a demo, they are really hard to beat at any price. I run 110W OTL triode monoblocks (Transcendent design). Tubes without transformers have all the crystal clear dynamic punch of solid state but with the palpable tone of triodes. The interesting thing is you can remove half of the tubes and the identical amp runs at 25w / channel. They sound great, but a lot is missing. The low end grunt disappears.

I've a 6BM8 tube amp driving 1.7wpc into a pair of L Cao FA6 single driver speakers (95dB SPL). Sound fills a small-ish room to 97dB peaks just fine.

Owned a Sansui 200 receiver with 5 wpc RMS with 1% THD. It was powerful enough and sounded sweet. I miss it Naim makes 50 watt amps that drive any speaker. Thing is, you only get 3dB each time you double power. It takes 10dB to make sound seem twice as loud and 6dB to make sound appreciably louder. So, take my 5w Sansui (you should!). Double it twice to 20w to get only 6dB. You have to get 30w to make it seem twice as loud. To do that again, you need 180 watts per channel! So, the first watt is surely very important as we rarely exceed that on decently sensitive loudspeakers after all.

Isn't it also a matter of what Class the amp is using? I used to have a Copland 30W tube amp (Class A) and it played absolutely beautiful and loud, but that amp was very expensive. I now have a Yamaha 2-channel streaming receiver with KEF Q550 and it works really well, but question is if I should look at a tube amp instead to get some more body to the sound?

I understand you review new equipment. That said i recently rediscovered a vintage kenwood KA-701. It is not about the wattage (60 watts) it is about the involvement into the music. No caps in the audio stages makes it very precise and speedy without being edgy. And it is known to have one of the best phono stages. The level of detail, depth, soundstage and detail blows away alot of current gear. No, it is not a romantic sounding amp. But it gets out of the way and brings the performers into the room. And the reason, I bring this amp up, $200 - $450 street price. Fits right in your low power amp price range.

I have the Reisong using with 35 year old Castle Chester speakers sensitivity is 90db never have volume above 60% on volume knob plenty loud enough and so magical

Its interesting thst you suggest this. When I setup amps for playing my guitar, I tend to chose lower volume at high head room for guitars to get fuller sound.

My favourite low power amplifier in my collection will always be my Quad II valve mono power amps from back in the 50;s. I'm sure they push more than they state, but are magnificent with my Quad electrostatic 57's, and also my Klipsch La Scala.. audio heaven.

2A3 amp here. Great everything with the RP600M in my room.