Yeah, I think the majority of the people who use the 11R have it going through a PA monitor of some type, I use an electro voice zlx12p and it gets loud and stays clear, I like it better than the Alto. I also have an 11R always connected to the computer, it has its own studio monitor speaker (a JBL LSR-308, the computer has a pair of 305's) and I like that what I hear through it would be what I would hear as a recording, but I don't think it would be loud enough to do shows (hence the zlx12p setup for live).

I don't know of anyone that uses a guitar amp for the 11r, I originally tried using mine as a preamp into my b52 at100 head with 4x12 cab and I wasn't happy with it, and worse was that if I got a patch sounding good it would sound horrible when recorded through usb unless I mic'd it and went through a different interface...

I know neither of the speakers I use have an effects loop, but I haven't needed one after the signal hits the amp for my applications. Why are you wanting an effects loop (just curious)?