So, I found that Rogers sells on e-bay demos which have been thoroughly tested and brought back up to normal and significantly lowered price. He has a 30 day trial period with shipping as the only payment for sending it back. Reading Tyson's posts in the Spatial Audio area where he is describing low powered amps driving his X3s and since the X5s are the same speakers with a different baffle and a different sized powered woofer, I thought that the Rogers could easily drive the X5s I have. Plus they do claim a heck of a lot more power than what was described above. Also, the owner/designer of the speakers was very much involved and he has a lifetime warranty on the amp. I also tried to read the reviews (not much on V-2 but some of the V-1) and I had tried briefly the Reisong A10 (sent it back because it didn't sound that good but it had enough power to easily drive my speakers) to get a feel for the power needed and the sound.
One note, he sent a thumb drive with a manual on it but also all of the tests and results which really impressed me. Also, I had some hook up problems and Roger was available via email and phone over the weekend to help me get it sorted out. It turned out to be a stupid mistake by your humble narrator.
Well, it turns out power isn't an issue whatsoever. I don't think I've had the volume yet to 9 o'clock. In Ultralinear mode, that is blasting sound. In Triode mode, not as much but I'm finding that I prefer Triode mode more than Ultralinear. The main difference between V-1 and V-2 is, I think, the additional power.
The amp itself takes a bit to get used to as it (described in one of the reviews) feels like the switches are something from an airplane. I have to get used to the immediately standby mode and also that it automatically defaults back to Ultralinear. Fortunately, you can flip to Triode on the fly. I am getting a loud noise when I turn it off out of the passive speakers. I'm going to have to try to remember to turn the volume all the way down to see if that helps.
I'm using the EL34s instead of the KT88s because, again, focusing on the midrange and my reading on many forums and other resources seemed to say that that was the way to go. I also saw that some consider the Mullards which are the EL34s included are the top or one of the top brands which impressed me as well since it wasn't just standard low cost tubes included. I checked with Roger and although he said he wasn't familiar with the speakers, his estimation was that the EL34s were the correct way to go.
So far, it is everything I wanted. I heard Abomwell's Carver 275 play his orchestral music and some of what I like (I stuck mainly to Lloyd Cole & the Commotions for the beautiful guitar, singing and spaciousness of their early stuff) and, while it's hard to compare something with something you heard a few months ago, I think I'm getting a similar full sound plus details I hadn't heard before like Lloyd Cole's croakiness in his voice.
I need additional time to listen (only about 4 hours of listening so far) but I think this is what I wanted. To me it was a calculation of cost -- the huge discount buying the demo which was thoroughly tested and vetted along with the lifetime warranty were extremely important but also reading that SET amps have a great midrange to them and given that the SET amp doesn't have to worry with the bass because the X5s already have a powered lower woofer and that the AMT will take care of the highs, I wanted something that would make the mids sound great. The Triode mode doubles that and compresses or rolls off the lows and highs so they aren't overbearing. If that becomes annoying there is always Ultralinear if I want to just let everything scream.
Again, thanks for all of the responses in this thread. Very helpful.
