To Doug Schneider,

I have Shindo F2a Sinhonia monoblocks that put out (I think) only about 20Wpc (maybe 40, but I have forgotten). I have the Shindo Giscours preamp, Bel Canto DAC and CD stack connected to DeVore Fidelity Silverbacks via Auditorium 23 cabling. I have never gotten around to picking up a turntable and vinyl (on my list, eventually) and am fascinated by the Giya design. I spoke to Philip O’Hanlon [at On a Higher Note] who aimed me at your review and, simply put, my question is whether or not my tube setup might be inadequate for driving something like the G2s.

Jeff L.

I don’t blame you for being fascinated by the Giyas, since this series of speakers represents state-of-the-art loudspeaker design. To hear them is to hear what’s currently possible.

The idea of using tubes with the Giyas is certainly interesting, something you probably already know from my review, since that’s exactly what I did. The idea of trying the JE Audio VM60 amps with the G2s came after we measured them and I saw the impedance curve, which stays way over 8 ohms above 200Hz. John Lam, JE Audio’s president and chief designer, had reservations about how well his amps would perform with the G2s as he’d never tried the pairing, but, as indicated in my review, the amps drove the speakers surprisingly well. The VM60 monos are rated at 60W and yours are rated at 40W (I checked), so it’s difficult to predict how well it will work. Other things to factor in are how loud you listen to music and how big your room is. I have no idea from your e-mail what the answers would be, but all indicators are that you could at least give it a try -- I’m sure glad I did. . . . Doug Schneider