100 watts per channel is plenty to drive most loudspeakers to satisfying volumes unless you have a cavernous listening room. If you need more dynamic headroom you could consider a pair of Jolida JD3000A monoblocks. What kinds of loudspeakers were you thinking of driving with the MC2102?

Hi DFWBear,

Welcome to the forum! I think it's all really down to the speakers you choose (and maybe the levels you like to listen at). Choose reasonably sensitive speakers with a benign impedance characteristic and you can drive them with relatively low-powered (i.e. much less than 100W) amps, whereas some less sensitive speakers really only shine with powerful amps.

I initially bought a pair of 50W tube amps that were recommended by the designer of my speakers as a good match. I thought everything sounded great and so I was totally unprepared for the scale of improvement a 300W solid-state amp made to the SQ when the arrival of a baby forced the tubes into retirement. Ymmv.

I would chat up the dealer where you heard the Mac and see which speaker matches he recommends. Which ones were you listening to when you fell head-over-heels for the Mac? Was it able to drive them to the sort of levels you like to listen at without clipping or "running out of steam"?

Bottom line: 100Wpc is more than enough power with the right speakers.

I have had many tube amps over the last 30 years, including McIntosh, Harmon-Kardon, and Marantz, and some of them sounded very nice, but I have ultimately settled on a solid-state amp for several reasons.

1) Tubes age, and sound-quality deteriorates as they do. It is expensive to replace them as often as required to maintain the best sound quality.

2) Tube amps are subject to frequent failures when tubes short out and take out other components with them.

3) Tube amps run very hot, and this is objectionable in hot weather (some also have fans, which are always audible, and that is unacceptable to me).

4) Tube amps simply do not have the best performance below 30 HZ; bass gets poorly-defined at lower frequencies (it must be said, however, that using a powered subwoofer eliminates this objection; it also means you need a LOT less power from the main amp, since it does not take much power at all to run the main speakers when bass is no longer required from it).

Furthermore, the best-sounding solid-state amplifiers are wonderful-sounding; they give up nothing to comparably-priced tube amps. My Bryston 3B-SST2 ($3500) sounds as good as any tube amp I have heard except the top-of-the-line Audio research tube amp, which is $20,000...well out of my price range.

My advice is to listen to the Bryston and some other good solid-state amps in your price range carefully before going the tube amp route. I should note that I DO use a preamp that has tubes; replacing the tubes in it every year or two is not that expensive, and the other objections as to power amps do not apply.

welcome: i was strongly in the solid state camp until i got a cary 120s power amp. as the name implies, there are 120 wpc available but also a great capacity to deliver current when needed. this would be very little difference than the 100 available with the mac that you like. my speakers are pretty inefficient, arial model 6 with 86 db from 1 watt on a very good day and wierd low impedence. this amp has no problem at all handling those speakers (this is where the ability to deliver current comes in). with more efficient speakers, it could make your ears bleed. when you by mac, you buy quality, they are also known for their current handling capacity. so i would not be too worried about longevity issues and it is under warranty and you have a presumably good dealer to back you up. maybe you can take the demo home for a tryout (not unheard of). yes, tubes wear out eventually, but there seem to be more options all the time.
yes, discuss the speakers with the dealer, but don't get married to only what he carries if others are available where you live.
good luck and let us know how it ends up.

Consider the following. Most (but by no means all) speakers run in the 85 db 1w/1meter to 95 db 1w/1meter.

85dB is as loud as you are allowed, according to the safetypeople to listen to for 8 hours. 95dB is just plain loud.

If your 85db 1w/1m speaker (to use an example) can accept 100 watts of input, you're running at 105 dB 1w/1meter into an anechoic room with 1 speaker.

That's kindly described as (*&(*&( loud.

If you've got something like my homebrew speakers, you're going to be running at circa 111dB at 100W input. (neglecting compression, which does matter, but not that much)

So you can get (*&(* loud with a 100W amp and most (but not all) speakers.

I've owned tubes and solid state and prefer tubes. So that's my bias.

The important thing is properly matching the amp with the speakers. Generally, 100 tube watts is more than enough to drive most speakers to satisfying levels. Your dealer should be able to advise you on the combinations that compliment each other. It would be more an exception than the rule for you to run into any problems, though some speakers can be difficult for some amps at high volumes in large rooms.

A good way to look at it would be using a car analogy. A 300 horsepower motor is plenty of power for 95% of the cars made, but would not be a good choice for a 10,000 lb. truck hauling a 12,000 trailer. On the other hand, a 300 horse motor would be way over-kill for a 2000 lb. Honda Civic.

If you properly match your speakers with your amp, you will have no issues with bass response or musical capabilities. It's true that tubes run hotter than solid state and have a defined life expectancy, but they are easy to replace and rarely result in catastrophic failure without giving you an audible warning as they deteriorate in performance as they age. Stuff happens, but again, we're talking exceptions rather than rules.

Because of the nature of tubes and their distortion characteristics, 100 tube watts is a lot of damn watts! I wouldn't be the least bit concerned about that being enough power. I'd be more worried about being under-powered with 100 solid state watts.

Quote:
Consider the following. Most (but by no means all) speakers run in the 85 db 1w/1meter to 95 db 1w/1meter.

85dB is as loud as you are allowed, according to the safetypeople to listen to for 8 hours. 95dB is just plain loud.

If your 85db 1w/1m speaker (to use an example) can accept 100 watts of input, you're running at 105 dB 1w/1meter into an anechoic room with 1 speaker.

That's kindly described as (*&(*&( loud.

If you've got something like my homebrew speakers, you're going to be running at circa 111dB at 100W input. (neglecting compression, which does matter, but not that much)

So you can get (*&(* loud with a 100W amp and most (but not all) speakers.

Excellent point. Add the other speaker and you add another 3db. Start with an 88db/w/m speaker and you can achieve those results with only 50w. Beyond raw output numbers, I find that tube amps tend to have greater capacitance, which lends itself to a more dynamic feel even without the big power reserves.

Beyond sensitivity, average impedance doesn't always tell the whole story about how hard the speaker is to drive. Look at impedance charts and choose something without ultralow dips if you're thinking of going low wattage.

I've had good results with both tube amps and solid state. I find it depends on the pairing with your speakers and what amp you choose. (there are different power tube designs) The best thing you can do is audition. I know that's tougher these days with all the good deals online, but maybe you can find somebody with speakers you're interested in, or the amp, or both. Also, surrounding discussions of certain speakers will likely be discussions of what amps pair well with them.

Tube Amps, frequent failures??

My amps must have missed that memo.

Tube amps-- poor performance below 30... missed that one too.

one thing is certain..

tube amps can do "clean" (although they cant do the sterile thing that many SS amps do so well), but solid state amps can not do "tube magic"

theres a reason tube amps are still kicking around...

tubes are amazing devices..full of mojo

I want to note that I also use SS amps(in my recording studio..) they are good for the hospital sterile show em everything tasks..

just not for extended listening.

100w is plenty.

happily chugging by on 25w, 30 w, and 6w here.

Quote:
Tube Amps, frequent failures??

My amps must have missed that memo.

Agreed, I haven't seen any real reliablity problems with modern tube equipment, either.

Quote:

Quote:
Tube Amps, frequent failures??

My amps must have missed that memo.

Agreed, I haven't seen any real reliablity problems with modern tube equipment, either.

True here as well. Reminds me of a story some 10 - 15 years ago (can't remember exactly) when I visited and saw a broken amplifier with a 250 volt rated fuse "protecting" a +550 volt rail. An output tube failed and the fuse holder, mounted on the pc board, was even melted down. The gent sent it in for repair and the same configuration was used in the repair, no upgrade at that time. Hopefully an upgrade has since been adopted.

Cheers.

I have a pioneer elite ss rated at 150 wpc. I also have a mcintosh 275 rated at 75 wpc. The macintosh blows the elite away. I could never use the full power of the Mc to drive the Monitor Audio golds. Don't get mislead by wattage.