I'm a proud owner of a pair of 208A and I love them. I've moved up the Elac line from the 203.2 bookshelf to the 207.2 then to these and have enjoyed having all pairs of them. The 208A's ofcourse bested the others in it's relaxed, effortless presentation of the systems sonic flavours. I'm driving them with a pair of Red Wine Audio 70.2 mono's rated at 70w in to 4 ohms, 35 into 8. They have no problem taking it to very lovely db's and doing it cleanly, balanced, and naturally. Though honestly I can listen to the system at minute levels and still get a fantastic presentation of the sonic spectrum.
To match them in my experience it's better to have a bit more laid back source, a tube pre, and a high current, high dynamic amp set up. They are so transparent they will reveal any weakness. However even using iTunes via wireless connection the system sounds fantastic. It reveals the digititis found in some bad MP3's though. However in contrast everything sounds incredible, open, detailed, and 3 dimensional with a huge soundstage. I love the Heil tweeter as it doesn't need to be "toed in" like so many typical speakers. Soundstage does get better with a tube pre I've found however my Linar Pre sounds great with it as it's very controlled and smooth. Adding a McIntosh c220 really opened up the room though! My dealer uses the same speakers and amplification via a Modwright 36.5 and the speakers fully disappear!
I love that they are German designed and made and yet for their price can easily best many other lines out there upwards of twice it's price. And they look stunning.
