Compatibility of Cary SLI-100 with ProAc? Magnepan?

@river251   I think it's doubtful that you'll find your ideal amp that will drive Proac and Magnepan equally well.

If you're keeping the Response 2.5's that's one thing, if you're changing over to Maggies that's entirely different.

For many years, I drove Response 2.5's with a Cary SET 300B 12-watt amp.  The results were delightful.  This was when Dennis Had was still with the company, and when they were still using real 300Bs.  The combo had his blessing, and it showed.

@river251

i am not positive, as i have not tried them personally for some time, but in my recollection the cary pp amps have a softness and opacity of sound that would not mate well with the proac’s response series, whose strength is wonderful imaging and clarity, while maintaining midrange textures and a modicum of warmth

this new sli-100 using kt150’s might be worth a try

top proac’s love tubes, especially the modern audio research sound -- very slight roll off up top, speed and texture throughout the range, and bass control - cary’s traditionally have been more muddled and too rolled off, too mushy in the bass... maybe kt150’s address that...

jjss49, why do you think the Cary and ProAc 2.5 are not to the task? What would you like to see in this pairing?

JasonBourne, according to the specs, the SLI-100 output impedance is not on Cary's site. I wonder if what you describe happens with an SLI-100 paired with ProAcs? 

proacs and maggies present very different challenges to amplifiers...  i would suggest the push pull cary's will do justice to neither of them

Many tube amps have an output impedance greater than 1 ohm. Add a speaker with a rising impedance in the bass and high frequencies and the result is boosted bass and treble sound. This type of amp will track the speaker's impedance curve. Resulting in far-from-flat response! The higher the output impedance the worse the matching problem becomes. 

For Magneplanars you need a high- current/high-wattage amp like a Crown XLS-1502. Tube amps are a poor match!