Tube amp to drive MBL 101's

Why not try the VTL Siegfried.

I spoke with Ken Stevens yesterday, and he mentioned that the CAT amps pair very well with the MBLs. I own the CAT JL-1 Limited Edition monoblocks, and I can tell you that they are exceptionally powerful. While I have not heard the JL-3 monoblocks, I would expect that they would be a good match.

There's only one tube amp on the planet that can drive the mbl 101's. CAT JL3's. Yes the JL1's can drive them too but I'm talking about current production amps. What everybody here is missing is the linear power delivery and current capability. No matter how many "watts" an amplifier has if its transfer function is non linear by nature the amplifier will crap out after the first few watts whether or not there are 500 more watts on hand. The CAT amplifier delivers clean, linear power that makes it effectively more powerful than amplifiers rated at five times its power. As far as current delivery is concerned, the other amps mentioned here including the giant Tube Research Labs amps fall far short of the mark set by CAT. So technically the CAT is the superior amplifier and what do you know, when you listen to it the damn thing sounds better than either the VTL or Tube Research or any other tube stuff that I ever heard that sounds veiled and bloated compared to the CAT.

That's kind of a bold statement, any specs. or way to back your statements? I am not a "fan" of VTL amps like Mejames is, but I do appreciate what they are capable of. The same goes for Tube Research labs and CAT(I had a very long listening session with a prototype JL-2 a few years ago and left VERY impressed). I am not trying to stir the pot but I find it VERY hard to believe that the Tube research labs and VTL's would be inferior to the CAT's- perhaps a different flavor but at this some what insane price range its all about synergy and personal preference.

"but at this some what insane price range its all about synergy and personal preference."

I couldn't disagree with this statement any more strongly. Price level has nothing to do with the issue which is, quite simply, the ability of a tube amplifier to drive a highly insensitive (read current and voltage hungry) load.
That's the issue. Synergy has nothing to do with it.

You can try and try and try to synergize the wrong amplifier to a speaker by changing flavors of cables and flavors of sources and flavors of tubes but synergists are doomed to play synergy games which are all about flavors and taste and nothing to do with the accurate replication of the input signal. If the amplifiers don't have the appropriate linear power (read current and voltage) delivery capability, all the synergy and personal preference in the world ain't gonna make the system sound good. If you start with an amplifier that can drive the load, and easily drive it, you won't be left with playing a synergy game you can't win.

Hey I like VTL amps too. I kind of like Tube Research amps too though I don't believe they offer a terrific performance/value ratio. But just try a VTL amp, any VTL amp, on the mbl speakers and you'll hear that what I'm saying isn't bold, it's accurate. The CAT, on the other hand, drives this speaker with ease and that is what the original poster asked about.