what is an ideal tube amp

"what is an ideal tube amp"?

Based on the info in your post, maybe a pair of Cary 805AE monoblocks.

1. You get 25/30 watts of pure SET Class A power and 50/70 in Class A2 for those Classical Music peaks.

2. They have 4,8 and 16 ohm taps so you stay at that power instead of losing half.

3. They have been absolutely trouble free/fit and forget amps for me.

I alternate between them and my Pass XA.5's to drive my Magnepans. I can only imagine what they would sound like on your 97 db CAR's.

Albert, I don't care what John's answer is since I'm not going to buy the speakers and I'm perfectly happy with my Atma-Sphere M60s. I was asking Ramy if he had asked the question since he spoke with John and is seeking comparisons (the question was begged). I'm sure all the amps being mentioned are excellent; however I only heard these particular speakers with Atma-sphere and they sounded fantastic.

Pabul57,

I responded, thinking you were creator of the thread. I now realize that was Ramy. Sorry for the confusion.

I only want to make one point. The 16 Ohm load is not a detriment when employing tube amps. The higher the load the happier the tube amp is. Tube amps do not lose power into higher resistance speakers they actually perform better. This is the opposite of what happens with solid state, I am surprised no one has addressed this point.
My answer to the question is a repeat of what some others have said. Any tube amp will work well. Given the overall quality of your gear I would choose either the Cary 805 as above, or a single ended 845 amp, a Vac 300B based amp or one of Ricardo Krons amps as the OP had asked about. You are in a great position, go for it.

Regarding the statements that have been made about losing half the power vs. not losing any power, if the nominally 16 ohm speaker is connected to an 8 ohm tap, in most cases the truth lies somewhere in between. It depends on the output impedance of the particular amp, and in some cases perhaps also on the current capability of the particular amp.

The output impedance of the 8 ohm tap of most (but not all) tube amplifiers will be considerably less than 8 ohms, corresponding to a damping factor considerably greater than 1. As a consequence of that, and assuming that power delivery into 8 ohms is not limited by current capability, the amp will not be able to deliver as much power into 16 ohms as into 8 ohms, but the reduction will be smaller than in the case of a solid state amp having near zero output impedance. The reduction will be MUCH smaller if the amplifier has a particularly low damping factor/high output impedance, such as SET amps commonly have.

An actual increase in power delivery into a 16 ohm load connected to an 8 ohm tap, compared to an 8 ohm load connected to the same tap, would occur in the relatively uncommon situation where the amplifier has a damping factor significantly less than 1, corresponding to an output impedance significantly greater than 8 ohms, and/or if its 8 ohm power capability is limited by current capability.

A separate question relevant to connecting a 16 ohm load to an 8 ohm tap (assuming the amp is not an OTL and has output taps) would be whether or not a perceivable increase in distortion might occur in some cases. Perhaps Ralph will speak to that, as I don't know the answer.

Regards,
-- Al