You need an 8 ohm speaker with this amp. Neither one of your choices are.

I am running the Taboo with CSP2 using a Creek passive enabling remote volume control and input switching.   Using the MG944's which are well broken in as well as the amp and preamp.   These speakers work beautifully in this set up.  Bass is plentiful as well as a mid range that is clear , articulate and sweet.   The tweeter on these speakers is superlative.  The realism of musical sounds produced by this system  can often surpass my S/S system  which costs more than 3x what is invested in the tube system.   I am going to consider   using a true tube preamp with the S/S system to see if that will bring additional tube flavor.  Currently have a SF line 1 which is hybrid.
BTW-- there is someone selling a pair of 1.5 radials here and I have used those as well with a Zen mono set up..  I would go for them to use with your taboo.   I sold mine for way cheap on here.. less than what is being asked so feel free to haggle with the seller.  He is wanting to sell and I feel would be up to  negotiating.  I was thinking of going for them but am going to wait on possibility going for something higher up in Steve's line.  

I want to thank all of you for responding.  There seems to be a debate about whether 4 ohm speakers will work well with Decwares lower powered amps..... specifically the New Taboo.  I have looked at all the speakers that Steve offers for sale currently and only the Zen Open Baffle Single Driver speakers are 8 ohms but I'm not able to spend 4 grand on speakers.  All of the Radials... 1.5's, ERRs, and the current HR-1's are also 4 ohm's.  I was hoping to get everything from Steve but I'm not sure that will be possible.  I am so impressed with the flexibility of and user comments for the  New Taboo Mk III that I'm 99% sure I'll have to pull the trigger before the discount ends.  I have read about Omega 3 XRS, 8 ohm, speakers and they go for 1 grand and use a single 5" driver.  $1000 to $1500 for speakers is my budget for now. I am a music lover and not too knowledgeable about the hardware and truthfully only read about it when I'm ready to buy something new about every 15 years after which I just enjoy the music without thoughts of hardware changes.  My listening is very eclectic but it is mainly as follows....small group jazz, vocals (mainly female) these first two account for 80% , classic rock/ folk rock, Big Band jazz, Classical/ Orchestral music fill in the other 20%.  I'm 55 years old and my goal is to enjoy the thousands of albums and CDs I've accumulated and not to attain the Holy Grail of sound....not that there is anything wrong with that...hehe. I'm finding the difficulty is that most of the speakers that would seem to meet  my needs are made by small companies so local auditions can't be done.  By the way I live in the Dallas, Texas area.  Keep the suggestions and personal experiences coming. Thanks again, Mark.

skiroe,

Thanks for the further info. Even if the amps were the same design, it may be that our differences in room size (my main room is 13.5x28x9.5 and extends into other spaces with big openings) and the volume you listen with your Taboo, could explain your being on the good side of the borderline, and me on the not-so-good side. Add in your pres for a little more push..... But I wonder....with the work Steve did to get the Taboo optimally driving Planar headphones, how did this effect (if it did) how the TabooIII drives speakers, and if so, do different resistances (ohms) matter more?????? I don't know.......

Mark58,

I am not sure the low power Decware amps share this particular resistance thing...the Zens are known to drive speakers well below 4ohms. I guess it might be more to do with the design necessary to get the Taboo to do what Steve wanted it to do??

The ohm thing and how it effects sound, and how important matching is, is mysterious to me, and I don't claim to get it. I think it is in part because it depends so much on amp design, rated power and rating system, but also on speaker design and rating systems...and therefore the useful info out there is sort of vague.

Seems if the amp's power components potentials exceed the power output by plenty, there is more room for play without hurting the amp. But basically, ohms rate resistance, so if an amp puts out 8 ohms, and the speakers take 4 ohms, I think this may be like a stream designed for garden hose (8ohm) dropping into a bigger hose (4 ohm equals less resistance...so the effect is like the same power flowing into a slower/less compressed stream). So this effects how the speakers use the amp power and how the amp power (manipulated by the speaker impedance) effects the sound of the speakers. I hope I got this sort of right. On the other hand, my Torii has a switch for 4 ohm or 8 ohm output, and they both sound great...different, but great. It does have a lot of power behind it though.

Question is, does it matter in your case. I am guessing it might from my experience with the Taboo MkIII and 944s...that I was not getting the 4.5 watts @ 8 ohms output (perhaps not close), and that this is part of what put me on the wrong side of the borderline.

But the bottom line seems to be this. The new Taboo is designed to make the LCD-2s sound as close to the real thing as Steve was able to get, and by reports, this is happening...a musical experience with excellent everything, and without room anomalies! This is a huge accomplishment for LCD-2s and for the Taboo MkIII! No room, and among those of us who have checked it out, there is no debate over how much room effects sound ...it is often a whole lot...enough to hobble some amazingly good gear!!!

The other bottom line to me is that the Taboo MkIII is designed for speakers too, but the power is borderline enough to carefully consider all aspects of what makes it borderline. Speaker proximity, speaker impedance, speaker efficiency and room size all weighing into this. If you could get it all to happen to your advantage, would you dislike that you ended with more than enough power for your listening tastes. Not likely...headroom is a good thing. And if you could get most of it to happen right, you could still be on the right side of the borderline....

Would love to be there for that shootout, but I am in New Mexico! Do you have a favorite of those three?

I will share once I have them in-house. I can say now that I have been enjoying the parkers with my spectron amp! Though they were optimized for the superzen it turns out they also love high power. The clarity is a step up from my Gallos, though of course the bass doesn't achieve what the Gallos can.