SET Speaker Compatability ?

No, I think not unless you listen at very low levels.

As a previous owner of 805B and a small room I can give you my experience. My speakers are Vandersteen Model Fives which are also 87dB but have a 400 watt amplifier built in each speaker for the subwoofer. As expected the bass was excellent and the Carys have a great liquid midrange but the highs were rolled off and the soundstage was somewhat diminished. In a small room there is no need push up the volume so they will play quite loud. In my particular system I went with a more powerful amplifier that extended the top end but still had a excellent midrange(not like the Carys though, only a single ended amp can do that)and increased the soundstage. Of course it's all a trade off and one has to determine what is most important to them.

Hi Jond.
You are at the crossroad now. You can not have both. I know that you never get the purity and emotional impakt with any SS or PP tube amp. I suggest you dump the Sonus Faber (that can not play loud anyway) and go for an esoteric path along the single fullrange high sensitive high ohm alternative there is. Buy a pair of PHY 8" and mount on an open baffle.
Sit back and relax, know that your brain and body will react with pleasure and harmony.
Good luck anyway

Hi Jond:

No particular expertise here but I have been using low power stuff for a couple years - all DIY. Below are two discussions of sets and power from two good sources. Scroll down on the Welborne site for the discussion. Nice list of speakers too.

I have talked to people happy with the kind of set up you are proposing but it would never work for me. You like to have some real headroom in sets in order to get the best from them. Sets run best the first watt or two and ss is often hte opposite.

Also look at the impedance across the F range and not just the nominal 8 ohm impedance that is measured at one frequency.

Paul Joppa

Welborne

Sincerely,
I remain