I picked up a pair of these two months ago or so and have really been enjoying them. They're very smooth and not fatiguing at all. While the bass isn't perfect and you would certainly be better served having subwoofers(s) taking care of that, I'm using them solo in a small room and they've been satisfying my need for bass for all but a few records. Overall I'm very happy with them at this point, but as always I'll see how I'm doing in a year.
As far as how much power you need to drive them, I'm sure Dave F (the owner of Ascend) will tell you that depends on your room size and amplifier but they have no trouble performing on my 50 wpc NAD amp.
