Your salesman sounds like a dodo. I own the Shearwater Hot Rods, I love them. I picked them over several much more expensive speakers I used to own, including Merlins and Kharmas. The Shearwater HRs are exceedingly easy to drive, minimum impedance is 7 ohms. maximum is 11 ohms, efficiency is 89dB. I have driven them successfully with as little as 15 watt 300B SET amplifiers with no problems whatsoever. I currently use a 30 watt SET amp and it will play w/o strain as loud as I ever care to listen.
Take the chance, you'll be happy, and your amp options will be surprisingly plenty...
Take the chance, you'll be happy, and your amp options will be surprisingly plenty...