I think Merlins are a special case because they have very smooth impedance curves and never dip below 6.5ohms, don't require high damping from the amp and they are also sensitive so they don't need much power - 30 watts should do. They are basically ideal for low/medium power tubes; that is tubes can work very effectively into their load. Some great sounding SS have lots of power, high damping factor, and capapble of driving difficult impedances - non of which the Merlins need, so my thinking is the a simpler designed SS, with relatively low power (I equate low power with better sounds quality and purity - if it is enough power), without heavy damping may be great with the Merlins, but not necessarily with a wide variety of speakers of all stripes. That is in part what interest me about the Pass XA-30.5, though compared to a tube amp it is fairly high damping factor (150). It seems that one property that some of the SS amps Bobby recommends have zero or very low negative feedback. Thing is, I can imagine an SS amp sounding fantastic with some speakers, but not necesssarily mating well with the Merlins. I get the feeling few Merlin owners use SS with their speakers, though I hear there are a few.
