Remember, in addition to speaker sensitivity factors, the HT2-TL is a 4 ohm speaker, while the HT1-TL should be an 8 ohm speaker (if it is using the same driver set as the HT1). Just something to look at when you have a smaller amp.
There is some merit to the idea of pursuing the HT2-TL's rather than the HT1-TL's if it meant that you would need a new amp with the HT1's. But there are a few other factors that might come into play as well.
While the HT1-TL's are not as efficient as the HT2-TL's, they do not play as deep as, say, the HT3's. So they will demand less power than the HT3's playing at the same volume levels.
Another factor to consider is how loud you need them to play. At reasonable volumes, 100 watts should be workable. Sure, more would always be better. But keep in mind that when listening at reasonable volume levels, you will be driving the speakers with perhaps 5 - 8 watts of RMS power. The rest is there to provide headroom for transients. More power will simply keep things cleaner where instantaneous transients are concerned, and that is the main advantage of higher power amps.
Peter Smith conducted a very interesting demonstration at RMAF a few years ago. He took an RMS meter and peak reading meter and set both up in a system. When the RMS meter was showing about 5 - 8 watts average, the peak meter was hitting 250 watts at times. This is where high power amps shine. They simply have enough power in reserve to prevent the amp from ever clipping. This keeps all the transients very clean and distortion very low.
This demonstration seemed to show that regardless of what speaker you use, a 100 watt amp will clip occasionally. At the same time, the duration of this clipping will be VERY short - instantaneous.
Granted, you would not want to run the HT1-TL's with a 20-watt solid state amp, but I personally would have no qualms about running with a 100 watt amp in a normal listening situation.
- Jim
