tube monoblocks and preamp recommendations

Please visit Jeff Day's Blog, jeffsplace.me and you will find out most everything you might need to know about McIntosh and great speakers like Altec. Jeff formerly reviewed audio for 6moons; he currently is a reviewer at Positive Feedback. Great guy and it's easy to email him with comments or questions. Jeff's blog site has great information on Terry DeWick and many other stellar audio folks. Best, and good luck...Rob

I’m a vintage dealer and have had several model 19s in the past. It’s one of those speakers that straddles the efficiency and not so eficient fence. The model 19’s woofer does need a certain amount of power to come to life but a solid state amp will sound horrible with the horn section. Your best bet is a higher powered push/pull tube amp in the 50-100 watt range. Both Quicksilver & Jolida have nice sounding products in that range as does Atmosphere. SETs would normally be my first recommendation with vintage horns but in this case aren't going to do it for Model 19's woofer.

david

One can always find vintage Mcintosh tube amps on Ebay or the Gon. There is a pair of MC 60s on Ebay but they are priced a little high right now. 
As for service, Terry Dewick will check them out for a very reasonable fee. A comment he mad to me was to the effect that you should never worry, these things are so easy to fix. Rebuild is a scary word but on the MC60s I own the initial service was about $350. To say they will probably last forever is pretty accurate.
My speakers are 101db efficient but they like the 60 watts and the headroom is a comfort. Nothing I hate worse than wondering if my amp is starting to clip. 
Nothing wrong with Quicksilver or Atmosphere though. Quicksilver has always seemed to me to be a poor man's Mac. Atmosphere on the other hand has a rep as an absolutely top of the line product. Transformers in the old Macs are up there with the best ever produced. 
Any of these three choices are going to be a lot of fun with the Altecs.
Great prices on Chinese amps but I stick with American made. 

Harle,

I agree with both you and Meadowman regarding Rouge Audio.
You may also want to consider the  RP Preamps matched with the Hybrid Models as well. The Hydra and Medusa are very quiet and retain fantastic dynamics.  An RP -1 with a Hydra falls right in your price range. You can also tube roll later on. As for McIntosh  - they are not the same company you remember, Now owned by Fine Sounds. BTW there are Thales Speaker cable up on Agon which would really make your Altecs Sing!

There is a Golden Tube Audio se40 with full sonicraft upgrade, as well as Jupiter cap upgrade here for 850. 

Full disclosure. I use to own this amp and it was fantastic. However, at the time I needed more tube watts. So, I sold it to the current seller. I went with a pair of Rogue m120's. But if all I needed was 40 watts of tube power this amp would still be with me.

Couple this amp with a new Audible Illusions 3b and your in heaven. You are also a hair under your budget.