[jmolsberg]

pendragons way too big my wife will kill me. i'll check out the couple you mentioned but i prefer a speaker with no crossover or very minimal one. i mostly use the remote on iphone/ipad (apple tv into dac) but the rogue remote works just fine.

[KLH007]

The Gallo Strada 2s have very little crossover, 1 cap I think, and are small, good WAF.

pendragons way too big my wife will kill me. i'll check out the couple you mentioned but i prefer a speaker with no crossover or very minimal one. i mostly use the remote on iphone/ipad (apple tv into dac) but the rogue remote works just fine.

[Ericus Rex]

You can't get better than these for $500.  Are you in Jersey?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Meadowlark-Audio-Shearwater-Hot-Rod-Loudspeakers-/141009164325

[jmolsberg]

You can't get better than these for $500.  Are you in Jersey?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Meadowlark-Audio-Shearwater-Hot-Rod-Loudspeakers-/141009164325

those would fit the bill nicely however, i live in fort worth, tx.

[nickd]

Got my first listen to a Rogue Sphinx amp this weekend.

The system,
Pioneer Elite CD/SACD/DVD player
Tara RSC Prime Speaker wire
Monster Reference interconnect
Montana SPX Loud Speakers
HSU Sub
Un treated room, carpet floor, drywall walls and ceiling, raised subfloor.

Impressions. Nice open sound. Very refined for the size & price. Sweet top end tight well controlled bass. I only got to listen to a hand full of songs as our families were together for dinner and a movie. From the cuts I heard, I was impressed. Female vocal was amazing, very natural with the proper size and weight. Nice ambiance from the open sounding top end and of course LOTS of power on tap. No "digital" edge that I could notice. I would say the $900. Pioneer CD player was the weak link in this system and it's very good for the money too. 

A little plain looking, but cool running and nice feature set. Good enough to make me want to try a model with balanced input at home. Nice implementation of the Hypex tech.

[Ericus Rex]

Do you know what tubes your friend had in it?

[nickd]

Do you know what tubes your friend had in it?

Stock Tubes from the factory. I'm not sure is they are or if they have option's on those. We installed it in a cabinet so the lid won't be off any time soon for tube rolling. He is a "set it and forget it" kind of guy. He was actually looking at Macintosh used integrateds. I think the Rogue just seemed like a better deal to him.

I'm not much of a tube roller myself, so I'm not the right person to get him to start. I do enjoying reading about opinions on that kind of thing (Dick Olsher comes to mind).

[bunky]

I just rolled in a pair of circa 1958 Amperex Holland ECC82/12AU7 17mm long plate slanted D getter's with the foil strip and the rare script logo. well the Sphinx is still in my system and with these vintage long plates installed it is sounding better than ever.

[KLH007]

Bunky, How rare & expensive are those scripted tubes?

[bunky]

This pair has well matched triode sections and both test higher than the average numbers for a new pair.i negotiated a price of $130 when the seller was asking for $150.the script logo is extremely rare. Brent Jesse is asking $250 per pair for 1950's Amperex D getter 12AU7's with the foil strip.

[jmolsberg]

purchased Tekton s-lore speakers and their sound matched with the Sphinx is excellent. very happy camper right now. next move will probably be psvane tubes.