Easy to drive, outstandingly natural sound from 40-50 Hz up.....AN-E, O/96, others?

wolf, out of curiosity, have you tried your Heresys on a stand to bring them up closer to ear level. I'm tempted to try them but the floor placement won't work for me. Thx.

I like AN-E's that you mentioned and recommendations for the Spendor SP100.  I don't know what price range you are looking at, so as a broad mention of speakers that will probably work well with 50 watts, the following brands are worth looking into: 
1. Tekton (I heard their $3,000 model at a show and it sounded quite good.
2. Charney Audio--I've heard a $13,000 and a $17,000 model (same speaker with different full range driver) and both were VERY good, particularly the $17,000 model with the AER 3 driver).  
3. Rethm Bhaava--this is a $3,000 speaker with a wide range driver and a built-in powered subwoofer that sounds great for the price.
4. ProAc--I like a number of models in their lineup.  Although not that high in efficiency, their speakers sound quite good with modest power--must be easy to drive.  I particularly like the big D48R floorstander and the D2 stand-mounted speaker.
5. DeVore Gibbon X--perhaps not as low-power friendly as the O 96 Orangutans, but I heard them with a 30-watt Luxman integrated and the combination sounded quite good.

Good luck in your search.

There's a pair of Usher BE-10 DMD's on AG right now I think would fit the bill. they're big and heavy and have a look you're either going to love or hate, but they offer all the resolution we expect from a modern hi-end speaker and manage to throw a wide deep sound stage. musical and engaging, and sound really good right out of the box without hiring a crew to set up and tune your room for.

I one owned a pair of speakers that sounded hauntingly beautiful with a low powered SS amp: the original JM Reynaud Ofrande speakers, made in France.  Absolutely beautiful looking and sounding speakers.

I ran these with an Atoll 80w SS integrated amp and it was a perfect match.  These just didn't work in my room (long wall, fireplace, couldn't pull them out enough into the room) but I can honestly say that these are the ones that got away.

Mitch some great options listed here, I have AN-Js myself, but just wondering since you keep mentioning a 50 watt amp do you have a particular amp in mind? I took a look at your system, it's pretty awesome looking, as SS amps go I bet those Claytons are pretty sweet. You mention liking the setup so is the move downsizing or just curious to try something new?

Hornings would check all your boxes. I see that not to many Horning owners on Audiogon. That’s too bad because they flat out play music!
You can use SET amps with no problems.

A wide variety of interesting options.
Thank you everyone.

Omega speakers 

The newest Klipsch Lascalas, the AL5

Tannoy Prestige 

Living Voice speakers are what I moved to from AudioNote ANE's and I find them a better overall sound. 94db 6ohm nominal. I run them on a 8wpc 300b SET but honestly double that would be better.  

Mitch2,

i owned the Spendor SP-100 for over 15 years and used it with a variety of amps ranging from Classe CA-300 (300 watts per channel) at one extreme to a single ended 46 tube amp (1 watt) at the other extreme, with lots of other tube amps in between.  They all sounded good (although the 1w amp clearly had its limits).  Based on my experience, with some occasional loud volumes, I would say the Spendors sound their best with a high-quality push-pull tube amp of 35-50 watts per channel.  The sensitivity rating of 90db only tells part of the story, however.  The SP-100 also has a rather flat impedance and is easy to drive.

My comments are limited to the SP-100, not the R or R2 models which are different speakers.

I considered the Harbeth 40.2 when I was in the market for a new speaker.  Although I wasn’t able to compare them directly, I am pretty confident the Harbeth would have a similar tonal balance with slightly better detail.  The Harbeth is not as easy a load as the SP-100 though and many people feel it needs a powerful solid state amp.

Klipsch Heresy IIIs, astonishingly clear and coherent down to about 58hz where subs should do the low range heavy lifting. A relative bargain.

http://www.stereomojo.com/Onix%20XCD-50%20and%20XIA160%20review/XCD-50ReferenceCDPlayerReview.htm

With ceramic midrange driver, it has an organic midrange sound with good details.

Also with active bass it is easy to drive with 50 W SET.

I drove this speaker with Line Magnetic 508 with good result.

I keep this one as second speaker to Lansche 4.1 (55K$ speaker with plasma tweeter).

Although it go down decent, it will help to match it with good subwoofer.

If you are interested, I can loan VAUGHN CABERNET to you for 2 weeks.

Tweeter: Split Ribbon
Mid Range: 6.5" Ceramic w/ 6.5" Passive
Woofers: Two 10" w/ Dual 10" Passives
Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 12 ohms in
bass region, minimum 6 ohm
Sensitivity: 93 db
Response: 34 hz - 60,000 hz
Power: 8 - 120 watts
Weight: 86 lbs
Size: 9" x 14" x 42"

@salectric , I have been interested in Spendor SP 100s, as well as Harbeth M40.2s but both of those have relatively low sensitivity for a 50-watt amp, although both are somewhat "easy" to drive from the standpoint of impedance.  Just not sure 50 watts would make them jump.

From Stereophile:

Spendor Classic SP100R2 loudspeaker Specifications
Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 5.5 ohms minimum.

Harbeth M40.1 loudspeaker Specifications
Sensitivity: 85dB/W/m. Impedance: 6 ohms nominal. Suggested amplification: >50W.

Spendor SP-100.

Sure: Sonist. Know of them? I own their largest floorstanders, and have them listed currently on this site. Love ’em, but I always rotate gear. The model I have are 97db, and I use my 10 watt tube MiniMax on them, and my 400w Digital Amp Co. Cherry amp on them. And they sound killer. I think they sound most similar to Tannoy, which I owned a few years back (the big Churchills). Ever heard any big Tannoy? With dynamics to die for? Sounds like them.

Shopping for fresh gear is all part of the fun! ;) 

Thanks Al, I knew I left one off my short list.

After hearing the bass improvement in my room after moving from large speakers to somewhat smaller speakers with two subs, I will probably continue down that path.  The trick is finding smaller speakers that provide the desired level of dynamics, scale, and rich tonality within their frequency range. The "smaller" stand-mounted speakers I currently use have two 9-inch woofers and weigh over 100 lbs each and they more than meet my dynamics, scale, and tone requirements.  They also use sealed boxes, which I find to improve bass.

This is a bit of a conundrum since my current set up sounds very good and standing pat is probably a good option, but moving to more efficient speakers and lower powered amplification aligns with my "simplification" goals. I know which amplifier I would like to try but all of this gets expensive and tiring since I would then have to sell and relocate 350 pounds of speakers and stands.  I am however interested to hear about which speakers are available that would be well driven by 50/100 wpc into 8/4 ohms.

Daedalus speakers meet all of your stated requirements. Depending on the specific model you may not need the subs, either.

Also, Lou Hinkley of Daedalus is a pleasure to deal with, and he offers 30-day return privileges less two-way shipping and $200.

Best regards,
-- Al