[Superman]

Ha! KG4 is a fine speaker. Interesting that it would beat a Vandersteen, but certainly plausible.

The pre will not have tone controls. It is for switching, gain-matching and impedance-matching. The amp and preamp will be relatively simple devices actually, with few components in the signal path. There is this duality, in hifi approaches. Amps with lots of circuitry and feedback with gobs of power feeding low-efficiency speakers with lots of circuitry of their own - vs - amps with minimal circuitry feeding high sensitivity speakers. This will be my first foray into SET. According to legend, the sound is scary-transparent.