If I found speakers in the 90 db sensitivity at 8 ohms - will that do or do I need to look for higher sensitivity? Most of the amps I have bee looking at output 20-30 watts. I have a medium size listening room and since I live in a condo in Brooklyn, I can't really crank the volume and need to listen at moderate levels.
Lastly, for the tube amp owners out there. Do you prefer the 300B, KT88 or EL34 tube sound>. How would you describe the sound differences of each?
@licarijo So much depends on design and execution that it really isn't very accurate to assign a 'sound' to any power tube. But it does seem to work out that of higher powered tube amps the EL34 is often cited as the best sounding power tube. My surmise is in your budget a 300b based amp that is actually worthwhile is outside the budget you mentioned. But if you were to compare to an EL34 or KT88 you'd want that 300b amp to be push-pull and not SET.
SETs don't make much usable power (about 20-25% of full power; if you want the most musical presentation) so you'd need speakers much more efficient than just 90dB- more like 100dB is needed!
But 90dB and 8 Ohms would work fine with a PP amp of 35 Watts- like the Dynaco ST70. Dynaco makes/made a smaller amp called the ST35 that is more musical- hard to say if it would work in your situation but if you're not playing it that loud (IOW if it has enough power) that would be the better choice as the EL84 is an easier tube to drive and so can be lower distortion than the larger octal-based power tubes like the EL34.