I too haven't had the time to read this entire thread but have been thoroughly enjoying the Orions for several months with the recommended ATI amp. My comparisons with more conventional speakers and amps would be the Verity Parcifal Encores, Maggie 3.6s, and Talon Khoruses (old version), (though I've heard most speakers in the $5,000 to $16,000 range) driven by Edge NL 12 amplification as well as Essense amps. In my opinion, I have gotten more musical pleasure out of my Orions/ATI combo than any other system I've had and i have in no way felt the ATI amp inadequate even when compared to my prior amp which was $15,500. Spend more if you'd like but this combo is pure musical enjoyment.
"Polyamping" A Look to the Future or Fancy Fad?
In a recent quest for information regarding DIY speaker designs, I was referred to the Linkwitz Orion Project. These speakers employ active crossovers and it is suggested to give each driver its own, separate amplification (actually one for each woofer and one for the tweet/mid - three per speaker). Linkwitz recommends the ATI AT6012, a twelve channel, six zone amp (60W/ch). I am not sure about the merits of the ATI amp but, regardless of amp, does anyone think this will be a "growing" design. I mean I have heard the benefits of biamping and have heard tell of triamping but, in this case, "sextamping"? Octamping would seem to be next. All accounts say that the Orions sound fabulous. Perhaps I am just behind the curve. What so you learned folks think of this direction in audio?