The link below takes you a specialized discussion of
the full range driver philosophy of speakerbuilding.
It's for the Do It Yourself enthusiast.

There is a good range of info between here at ART and
over there.

www.fullrangedriver.com

• Full Range Driver Website

As others have mentioned, some more info about room, musical tastes, what you like and dislike sonically, price level, would help.

That said, here are a few suggestions, on both the tube amp front and the speaker front.

Assuming you can diy, and assuming you are looking for a reasonable second "bedroom" system that will give you a taste of tubes and single drivers, my suggestion for a very modestly-priced system would be a K-502 Stereo Integrated Tube Amplifier Kit from Antique Electronic Supply, http://www.tubesandmore.com -- all of $140!! -- driving a pair of Fostex FE208 Sigma drivers in Martin King enclosures, http://www.quarter-wave.com . I have precisely this system in my workshop/garage, and it puts to shame systems costing many times more.

If you don't want diy electronics, or want more power, the integrated amp I've seen recommended repeatedly is the Manley Stingray. I've not heard it myself.

On the driver front, I'd suggest you stick with Fostex -- not too cheap, not too expensive (IMHO). They're readily available (from Madisound) and there are many enclosure designs for them (including designs approved by Fostex, also at the Madisound site). I'm a big fan of Martin King, who has done a ton of work in the area, as his website shows -- and his designs are a lot easier to build than some of the horn designs! You should also take a look at Bob Brines's site, http://www.geocities.com/rbrines1/ . His FT-1600 design using a Fostex FE167E driver is on my short list.

Again, give us some more specifics and I'm sure we can give you further suggestions.

• Workshop System Pic

You wrote :

"SET looks like the way to go but I haven't ruled out other options either."

I know that SET is the politically correct amp to pair with a high efficiency full range driver. But don't rule out the option of higher power SS amps. I also recognize that my opinions are completely different from 99% of the single driver users.

I don't use tubes and have a 200 watt SS amp driving my Lowther and Fostex designs. I am going to be upgrading the amp and preamp soon and will stick with SS. I like SS because it gives the speaker designer a number of degrees of freedom that a low power tube amp will not allow. The combination of higher power SS, passive filters, and full range drivers can work very well. I have not heard any real negative comments from diehard tube users who have heard my system. On the other hand, I have not lived with tubes so my experience is limited to observations I have made reading posts on the various forums dealing with single driver speakers.

Hope that helps,

Martin

Thank you very much for the vote of confidence! Positive feedback is always greatly appreciated.

I second you recommendation concerning Bob Brines's site, he has a great way of explaining the workings of TL's in a simple and clear style. Great reading, I have learned a lot from Bob and his site.

Martin

In all seriousness, I listen to SETs (principally Welborne Laurels), a 40W push-pull EL34 (Assemblage) and a 100W ss (AKSA) and I enjoy them all, but there's something about a SET amp that's really special.