Jeff- Without specifics about your cables and power cords, it's a little difficult to get the whole system approach. Obviously, great power cords (Shunyata KC, FIM GOLD, NBS 0) can make a HUGE difference. Darker/warmer cables could help. A warmer sounding pre-amp could also match better with your system. Tubes mate very well with the esl part of your MLs, but the bass may suffer. An area not often touched upon is isolation/coupling devices and how they effect system tonality. You could try softer units, like Navcom/Sorbothane and other polymers, for feet under the front end equipment to darken the sound. However, this will also effect imaging and soundstaging. Reduce toe-in of the speakers to start. I'm not trying to discourage you from getting into tube amp(s) since they will excel on panels. It's just that tube amps don't have to be dark or mellow sounding. The majority of the problem may exist else where. If you'd care to discuss this further, feel free to email me. Goodluck.
I promised myself I'd never do this
You know the threads, where people ask for help matching this speaker to that amplifier (s)? Always seemed like wasted space in a lot of ways to me, but here I find myself pondering which way to go with my system. So, I break my own golden rule, and ask for your advice. The system: Oracle Delphi IV/SME345/Grado Reference, Magnum Dynalab Tuner, YBA CD Integre CD player, Audio Research SP14 Preamp, (2) Classe Audio DR8 amplifiers in bridged mode, Martin Logan Quest Z speakers bi-wired. Various quality IC's and power cords. I'm considering changing the amps, primarily due to a "live" listening room that would benefit from a more mellow sound, and the amps have more power than I'll ever need. Treating the room is out of the question, lawyers cost more than my rig. Naturally tubes come to mind, but the care and feeding of tube amps can be significant, solid state are plug and play and forget about 'em. I'd likely be looking to spend around $3k for a used amp, any suggestions on where to begin? Thanks in advance to any of you who take the time to respond, Jeff