I have owned a pair of Contour 1.3SE for many years and have always driven them with at least 200W of amplification. I took my speakers to an event where half a dozen standmount/bookshelf speakers from different speaker brands were compared and my speakers finished dead last and by a very long way, they actually sounded like they were playing underwater. The amplifier used for this comparison was a 60W valve amp which did'nt just prove insufficient, it was woefully inadequate for the task. I suspect there are opinions of these speakers written by people that may not have driven these beauties adequately and I would like to warn anyone reading any comments to always consider this. Another area that can influence someones opinion of what they consider adequate power is the power cord to the amp. Although I use 200W of power it can seem insufficient with the standard provided power cord and for a long time I thought I needed an even larger amp. This proved unfounded when I started to experiment with upmarket power cords, just another thing to consider before making comment.If your looking for a small speaker with beautiful tonality and a surprisingly full sound, you won't find better.
