Room: 160 sq ft. Living room open to dining room.
Rear wall lively with a couple of windows.
Front wall pretty dead.
3rd wall lots of art and furniture and all my albums and CDs with a fireplace.
Dining room: 100 sq.ft.
Amps: Quicksilver M80 mono EL34 amps with 80 watts into 8 ohms.
Preamp: Quicksilver Line Stage.
Speaker placement: Side wall: 4 ft. Distance from front wall: 3 ft. Right now I am at the focal point of an equilateral triangle with 9 ft. sides. No sub.
I'm located south of you in Orange County near Laguna Beach.
I listen to everything except opera and juke box country.
I plan on staying with tubes. I am looking for a relatively efficient speaker (90dB) so I can use a 300b or similar. Since I live in a condo surrounded by retired folks, I never listen at >85db. I figure 10-15 watts will do me, since that will give me about >100dB for peaks. My tastes run to a more musical, Brit presentation. I've had Spendor 1/2s that were fine. Definitely stand mounted.