Thinking of trying tubes...

I have found in 35 years of experience that what matters is implementation and not whether a piece of gear is tube or solid state. A guitar amp is a little different in that they are usually overdriven to get the crunch.

If you really want to drive the Dunlavy's right, I would stretch your budget a little bit and get the VTL MB-450 monoblock amps. (Used they go for around $4,500, but you can sometimes talk the sellers down a little, closer to $4K.) They have lots of power to really get the most out of those speakers. (The bass response of the MB-450s is about as good as it gets for tube amps, unless you can spend double or triple the amount.) These amps sound really good, and have a nice touch of tube bloom in the mid-range. Not so much as to be considered bloated by any means, but just a nice touch. The treble is nicely extended and refined. Soundstaging and imaging is excellent as well. A true top notch tube amp in my book.

Cavaet time:
One, They run HOT. They will raise the temperature in your room several degrees, unless it is air conditioned.
Two, While they have very good bass response, (I consider it to be great bass for a tube amp), it can be bettered by equal quality solid state monoblock amps. (But then said solid state monoblocks don't have that nice mid-range either!)
Three, they have 10 tubes per monoblock amp, so retubing them can get a bit expensive, as can tube rolling. (But hey, that is what tube amps are all about, right?!)

Good Luck in your search!

I almost bought the SC IVs about ten years ago. I heard them with a CJ premier 11a and an Audio Research VT 100. If you like jazz or classical music and don't need to impress your friends with earth shaking bass or deafening volume levels tubes sound absolutely great. If you like Led Zep or the Stones at concert volume I'd be happy with the Pass and call it a day. I ended up with the 11a and a pair of B&W Signature 30's (somewhat less imposing than the SC IVs). I listen to relax and am absolutely drawn in by the combination I have...Levinson 390S for CDs, no preamp, no vinyl. Had it for over ten years, no desire to tweak or upgrade. If you listen at higher sound levels I'd probably try the Pr 12s or VT150 or 200's used.(I'm not up to speed on the Audio Research stuff, but the idea is to get 4 6550's per channel to pack the punch and still get that great midrange). I'm considering the 12s myself now that I started visiting this sight again, but I'm hoping it will pass.

Anyway, both those amps sounded great with the Dunlavy's but you wont have the control deep down or quite the dynamic range, but will have something imminently listenable, maybe more so than what you have now.

One other thought to share, I tried a Levinson 335 for a week. Listening to the Stones I could pretty much replicate the concert I'd just been to. Absolutely unbelievable sound. But interestingly at low to moderate volume levels the amps didn't sound that much different, both were clean, detailed
and involving with the CJ a tad more involving and seductive and the Levinson more controlled on the bottom end, but not by much with jazz and classical.

I opted to match the strengths of my amp and speakers with the type of music I listened to the most at the levels I listened at the most. So I took the Levinson back and never really missed it. But it was impressive!

Happy hunting.

Rob