So I was curious on how the 40s ultimately paired with the E11. Thankfully, I have a friend that has the E11 and tried out the pairing. I pulled my eBay listing of the 40s for more comparisons and was astonished at the results..
Remarkable.
High Current - High Gain - EQ (Bass) settings really make the super woofer shine. The perfect pairing in my opinion, even better than the CMoyBB. The CmoyBB colors the mid a bit and bass boost bleeds a tad when the volume is increased. The E11 does not and overall gives a more clear/transparent sound.
All in all, I may put up the XBA-30s for sale and purchase an E11 for myself. When I would like the extra bass kick, I set the EQ to 2 and enjoy the rumble, when not needed, I set it to 0 and enjoy the clarity and soundstage.
Nevertheless, I would recommend the 30s as the better allrounder that doesn't need an amp to shine. It has a more balanced sound signature and handles mids a bit better. I would only recommend the 40s if you have a low-output impredance amp (E11, CMoy) or source, and don't mind the slightly U-ish shaped sound sig.Ultimately the 40s soundstage is much bigger than the 30s and give more of a 3d effect.