JBL 100 Classic or Klipsch Heresy III?

The Forte 3s are wonderful. They need to be at least 8 inches off the back wall to allow the 15 in. passives to breath, and they are a much larger box. No subs needed. So yes, recommended.

Fortes all day. Those speakers love tubes, go very low and will crush those jbl’s. You won’t be able to turn it past 11 o’clock without ear protection. 

I found a great pair of Cornwall lll's used locally that I'm using with a Primaluna Dialogue (GE 6550's and Amperex 12au7's). You should demo the L-100s to compare but would definitely recommend an efficient speaker with added lowend potential like the Fortes or Cornwalls for the Classic. 

I have owned a pair of JBL 100 classics  since Christmas. And I have to say it is one of my best speaker purchases to date. (And I’ve had dozens of speakers over the years).
I just sold my Forte 3’s and kept these instead. They do everything really well. I really liked the Fortes too, but felt they sounded a little thin with solid state, and better with tubes. The JBL’S have a way with music that lets pretty much everything shine. Imaging and sound staging are excellent. Images float above and don’t collapse when panned to the far right or left. The stability is fantastic. I usually have problems with image shifts or when there are crossover anomaly’s, and whatever they did with this crossover, they did right. I have them on dedicated deer park audio stands, and they work extremely well with them. Great speakers !

lg1

been a little disappointed at how much the volume control needs to be turned before they’ll "rock the house". I’m approaching straight up 12:00 on the volume on the PL and still wanting for a bit more but have backed it down to 9-10ish again as this is my first tube amp and I have no idea how hard these components/tubes should be pushed before usable life starts to drop off precipitously.

Few things in audio are noticed more but matter less than the position of the volume knob. Explained so beautifully in this underrated documentary here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgx4k83zzc

With tubes, or anything else for that matter, if it sounds clean and its not overheating then relax and enjoy it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if they’re driven hard? Probably. But if you enjoy your music enough then I would hope its worth it. Will tubes wear out a little faster if you turn the amp on an hour or so to before listening to warm up? Probably. But if you enjoy good sound I would hope its worth it to you. It sure is to me. Will tubes wear out no matter what you do? Pretty sure that’s a yes.

But there’s plenty of crappy sounding SS amps you could have none of which will ever require new tubes.

Relax. Enjoy your tubes. At whatever volume you want. Then at some point before too long order a new set. I think you will find just having them sitting there ready to go alleviates a lot of tube anxiety. Besides then if you still worry you have a new set to pull out and compare any time your neurosis flares up. Just remember after you confirm yes indeed the ones you thought were about to explode are just fine after all to put the new set back in the box. Eventually, probably years from now, you’ll be glad to have them.