New to tubes

Thats cool - Judging by how the MA's sound with the Denon (a bit warmer on the SS side of things), I am hoping they will sound brilliant with tubes... hoping :) I spoken to alot of people about the Silver series, and it's kind of a love/hate thing overall. I in particular love them, though I do hear what people are saying about them being strong or edgy in the high range. A high impedance tube amp would likely roll the top end off a bit, which might be just the trick - as soon as I decide on something I will let you know my experience.

With regard to the SET, I know the sensitivity rating on the MA's is borderline. I also know that slight tube amp breakup is much easier on the ears than the abrupt clipping of SS, so tube watts tend to sound 'louder'. I also know many of these high end mini SET amps sound alot louder than their ratings compared to some other tube amps. And lastly I also have the powered MA ASW210 sub paired with my 5i's - so I am thinking of running the tube amp to the speaker level inputs of the sub and then out to the 5i's, and set the sub crossover at 60-80hz - this might put a bit less of a load on a smaller tube amp.... although I have no idea what kind of impedance curve the amp will see with this setup... guess I just have to jump in and try it! :)

Most speaker-level inputs on subs provide a couple Kohms to convert high to low-level.This value doesn't affect the impedance that the amplifier sees.
You will probably be happier with chinese output tubes,as some of the russian are more forward in the top-end.
Between the PL1 and 2,I would suggest the PL2 with KT-88s.It will be stronger in the bass and the highs are preferrable to the 34s IMO/YMMV.

Hmm, this is all good stuff. Again, I am glad a found someone else looking to do what I am looking to do with effectively the same speaker. I agree, I think the Silvers are a remarkable little speaker, especially for the price I paid. In fact, at my old house, I didn't find them bright or harsh in the least. But they are just a little fatiguing now, and I want to rectify that. :D

I am now looking at a Cary Sli80, Jolida 1000, or a VAC Avatar, all of which are right in the same price range (Around 2K). I love the look of Mac gear, but I don't know a $4000 MA2275 could be twice as good as the units I am looking at, and ultimately I think I would be buying for aesthetics. On the SS side of things, I would consider a MF A5, Creek Destiny, Naim, Chord... the usual suspects.

I have heard nothing but great things about VAC and the Avatar, so it is hitting the top of the list right now. It supposedly deals very well with any kind of music, which is important to me, since I listen to almost everything and a great deal of what I listen to is rock. Anyone with knowledge or experience with any of the above that wants to continue giving advice/suggestions I am still all ears. And that includes suggestions on source, ICs, cables, etc. Thanks again!

Grenamc, I happened to find this in poking around today:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/Ma9fig1.jpg

From the Stereophile review of the 9i - this image shows their measured impedance for the 9i (solid line). Don't know enough about how this will affect power delivery and frequency response curve when used with a high output impedance tube amp, but it looks to me you might see a boost around 40 hz, 200hz, a dip around 2khz, and a boost around the 10khz mark (as compared to an ultra low impedance SS amp). Again this is just my novice interpretation from what I've read so far, but I thought it would be interesting for you to see this. Regarding my 5i's, I'm my impedance curve is likely different as I have a different crossover setup in mine. BTW there's a guy I found here who does crossover upgrade work on the Monitor Audio Silvers who says it's worth it - I haven't followed up with him yet but he goes by Vman71 here.

Hmmm, now you've got me thinking even more about getting into tubes myself.

I've got a pair of B&W 703's currently driven by a pair of Electrocompaniet AW220's and a Musical Fidelity A308CR preamp.

So far I haven't done any research but might just start looking now. Since I have no clue what kind of power output I need from a tube amp to drive my speakers I'd love to get some input.

Do I need the same kind of power I get from from an SS amp or is there any difference.

Thanks