Tube amp for "difficult" speakers,,,

I know an older gentleman who used to own Consequence. He has gone thru many amps, from high power solid state like Bryston 7B-ST to a 70wpc tube amp. His favorite was the medium power tube amp that was made in Canada, but the company has gone belly up and I can't remember the name at this moment.

I used to own Confidence 5 which many believed are the modern iteration of Consequence. I have tried 10+ amps on those and I would not recommend tube with them. The best tube amp I had success with was Sonic Frontiers Power 3, but even then they could not fully bring out the bass.

If you are not dead set on Consequence, I suggest you look for a new speaker that has more resolving power, quicker, more transparent, and easier to drive. As much as I loved the Confidence 5, I have moved on and much happier now.

I used to love Dynaudio sound, from Sonus Faber EA1/Extrema to Dyn C5, but I do believe Esotar 1 is no longer the king it used to be 10 years ago. That's the reason I moved away from Dyn C5, same reason that older gentleman moved away from Consequence. He owns a stereo business and starts importing Eben which has a ribbon tweeter.

Like most inefficient speakers, you need tons of power to have the same dynamic range of more efficient speakers. I am not talking about just playing loud, I am talking about the "jump factor". If you have ever heard a horn system, you will notice how natural the music is, how easily each musical note just flows out without strain, how dynamic contrast is so vivid and relax you don't need to crank up the volume to hear it. so since owning Extrema and C5 for 5+ years total, I decided to go back to more efficient speakers.

I haven't heard the latest Merlin VSM, I did own the VSM SE for a short time. Still using Esotar which you like, they are significantly more efficient and dynamic. if your room size is not huge, VSM MX or whatever version now might work for you both sound and money wise.

I still can't remember the name of that medium power tube amp, but I don't think you should bother trying to find one as I have never seen on goes up for sale on audiogon except the one from the same gentleman who eventually gave up and sold both his amp and Consequence.