What types of music do you listen to...and, at what levels in what size of room? If you listen to to more natural, acoustic music...ie; Jazz, clasical..well recorded voices and musicians....then you have many options. At reasonable levels...in smaller rooms..say 25 X 16 or less, you will not have much trouble getting good sound levels with most speakers with any type of good amplifier. Listen to various speakers...decide what fits your tastes best, and then buy electronics that work well with them...in your room..with what you like to listen to. I have heard Magnepan MG-20 sound superb with as little as 30 watts (VAC 30-30 and Pass Aleph 3) and Horns sound fine with higher power transistor gear. For what it is worth,,,for us 2 channel people...just excellent sound can be had from the current generation of integrateds with more money put into better source components and wire...and the speakers you like. After listening to systems in the 50K up range, I was impressed by how much pleasure can be had from something like the Magnepan 1.6 or 3.6 driven with the VAC Avatar, Magnum MD-208 or various integrateds from Plinius, Classe..etc. It frees one up to pursue better source products. Good luck with your listening and purchasing.
ESL/Planar/SS v Dynamic /horns/tube...
Opinions on two extremes! Esl/planar speakers (Martin Logan, Magnepan, Acoustat..etc... paired with "kilowat" SS, (some exeption to VTL "ichiban" driving ML Statements) amplifiers (Krell, Boulder, Classe...) VS Dynamic speaker or Horn, driven exusively with Tube electronics! What is your preferance on these two different "worlds?"