paradigm studio 100V2 with Mcintosh tubes

I initially heard the Studio 100s with a Mac amp (sorry, don't know the model, but it was SS) and it just didn't have enough juice to run them. I thought they sounded horrible. Not to say Mac and Paradigm won't work well together, but the 100s need some juice. If your amp doesn't have 100+ watts I'd find a more efficient speaker.

From my experiences with the Studio 100's, they sound great with 200-300 watt amps. They just need lots of power to come alive.

I currently power mine with a McCormack DNA-225 amplifier, rated at 225watts @8ohms and 400 watts @4ohms.

Please keep in mind that these speakers dip down around 3 ohms at around 80-100hz.

biamp is the best treatmemt for all complicated and tough loads. you might end-up with much less but clip-free power.

you can use

NAD C370 integrated used($400) as woofer amp(upto 600Hz) and preamp --> marchand crossover(tube or ss whichever you can afford certainly with removed speaker crossover) --> your mckintosh amp at upper and midrange.

Many manufacturers would not recommend to go active since it will loose its values but many would state otherwise recommending an optimal crossover point(s) beneficial for amplifiers and speakers together with removed internal speaker crossover.

I think the McIntosh pre and 2102 would sound great
with the Paradigm 100's. Or, with just about any speakers. If you find that the 2102 isn't driving the Paradigms hard enough, buy another 2102 and run them as monoblocks. The 2102 is a powerful amp -- don't let the 100 watt per channel rating fool you. All watts ain't created equal.

Rsbeck as God created all equal Watts are created equal as well.
Load can vary power and that's what it all about.
100Wpc is power at 1kHz freequency at 8Ohms. What will be the power to 22 Ohms? 3 Ohms?

I second Rsbeck. I auditioned the 2102 blasting a pair of B&W N801s like I could not believe. The room was 30x30 and the sound filled it completely with no strain at all. The 2102 is much more powerful that it would seem at first (the Levinson 383 sounded weak by comparison).

My Paradigm 100.2s do wonderfully with even my little 100Wpc McIntosh MC7100 SS amp (and McIntosh C712 pre) but when you look at that amp's curves in the owners manual, it can put out 200W at 6 ohms continuously. I think that all Mcs made today would sound awesome on the Paradigms, and the 2102 is definately no exception. Arthur