I own Vandersteen 2ce signatures and play them through an Audible Illusions Mod3a and Classe 15 power amp. With 175 watts of clean power per channel available, they can boogie really well. My taste runs from Pink Floyd (my absolute favorite), to Jethro Tull to Shinedown and more. They sound great and can play loud. I have measured peaks of 100db from my listening chair and they have never sounded strained, congested or hard sounding. I find JBL speakers to be very bright and very fatigueing sounding, but they are very efficient and do play loud. If you want quality sound, go with the Vandersteens, if you want rock concert levels, go with the JBL.