1. He's into detail before bass;

2. He has a big sub if needed.

If in doubt find a spl meter and do a bit of math.

Most folks do serious listening around 80 dB, but peaks add 10 dB routinely and up to 30 dB for some musical forms. Extended listening to more than 85 dB will result in permanent hearing loss. Check it out and know for yourself.

Ed's Horns are 91 dB/w/m. In an average 2,000 cu. ft. room that's about what you'll get with 2 speakers and 1 wpc. Therefore,

4 wpc = 97 dB,
10 wpc = 101 dB,
20 wpc = 104 dB, (forget about it, the driver will poop out first)

I own a set of these they will take alot of abuse. I have a Pass Labs Aleph 30 and have driven them to 116dB levels wihout any problem. This is the point where compression becomes apparent. The drivers are rated at 5 wrms / 15 w-music @ 8 ohms. I spoke to a Foster/Fostex engineer at the NAMM show last year and he told me they rate them using SQUAREWAVES! :^O Jeez! Re: The recent Stereophile review. It difficult to do near-field measurements on a horn loaded system. The results are almost always bizzare. I have a modest size room and mine show to half-power (-3dB) at 55Hz. Other than a prominent rise around 10kHz, they have a perfectly acceptable response curve to 18kHz. (Note: Mine have the Fostex FE-108-Sigma's which have been superceeded with a newer version with a different cone and motor structure.)