My speakers are specified as 16 ohm with 105 dB sensitivity. I have a small room and usually listen at levels around 70 dB with peaks around 85 dB. On rare occasions, I may blast some rock and reach 95 dB. I listen mostly to small and large scale acoustic music, both classical and jazz with some classic rock. I sit about 14' from my speakers. I figure that I use less than 1 watt or about 5.5% of available power for most listening. According to the measurements in my ML2 manual, total harmonic distortion plus noise is 0.5% for 1 W from 20-20KHz. It is 1% distortion plus noise at 5 W and 2% at 18 watts, levels I never reach.
The second criticism is that SETs can not do bass, and should therefore be used for the midrange and tweeter only. My corner horns use a compression driver from 500 Hz up to about 15K Hz. The 15" paper cone woofer fires into a folded horn with open back into the front corners of my room and radiate out along the front and side walls, extending the size of the horn. I figure total extension is from the mid 30s up to around 15K Hz, though I have not measured it. At some point I may look into two subwoofers driven by my second pair of ML2 amplifiers, but I am quite satisfied at the moment.
I do not question the claimed SET limitations, but I do not hear those limitations with my amp/speaker pairing in my room. Or, it is possible that I hear them, but do not recognize them for what they are. Regardless, I enjoy what I hear. Here is a recent video of a female voice and acoustic double bass. To me, this sounds open, effortless, extended and low in distortion. I hear clarity and energy.
