Tube amp to drive MBL 101's

There's only one tube amp on the planet that can drive the mbl 101's. CAT JL3's. Yes the JL1's can drive them too but I'm talking about current production amps. What everybody here is missing is the linear power delivery and current capability. No matter how many "watts" an amplifier has if its transfer function is non linear by nature the amplifier will crap out after the first few watts whether or not there are 500 more watts on hand. The CAT amplifier delivers clean, linear power that makes it effectively more powerful than amplifiers rated at five times its power. As far as current delivery is concerned, the other amps mentioned here including the giant Tube Research Labs amps fall far short of the mark set by CAT. So technically the CAT is the superior amplifier and what do you know, when you listen to it the damn thing sounds better than either the VTL or Tube Research or any other tube stuff that I ever heard that sounds veiled and bloated compared to the CAT.

"If you are not trying to go over 95 db average SPL I can whole heartedly recommend the JL-3's (they may play louder but i can't vouch for their efficacy)on the 101 e's"

My experience with the 101d's is that an average 95db or so is the upper limit of the loudspeaker itself in a large room. In a smaller room, of course, you can reach into the low 100's before a speaker-derived metallic edge creeps in.

From my perspective your room size is moderate. How the speaker will perform from an ultimate spl level is very much dependent on how the room is decorated, what's on the walls and floors, etc. If your room is fairly lively and you're not a headbanger you are unlikely to hit the threshold of speaker metallicism. If, conversely, your room is on the dead side and you like to rock out, the mbl and/or its associated amplifier could be taxed beyond their respective limits.

"but at this some what insane price range its all about synergy and personal preference."

I couldn't disagree with this statement any more strongly. Price level has nothing to do with the issue which is, quite simply, the ability of a tube amplifier to drive a highly insensitive (read current and voltage hungry) load.
That's the issue. Synergy has nothing to do with it.

You can try and try and try to synergize the wrong amplifier to a speaker by changing flavors of cables and flavors of sources and flavors of tubes but synergists are doomed to play synergy games which are all about flavors and taste and nothing to do with the accurate replication of the input signal. If the amplifiers don't have the appropriate linear power (read current and voltage) delivery capability, all the synergy and personal preference in the world ain't gonna make the system sound good. If you start with an amplifier that can drive the load, and easily drive it, you won't be left with playing a synergy game you can't win.

Hey I like VTL amps too. I kind of like Tube Research amps too though I don't believe they offer a terrific performance/value ratio. But just try a VTL amp, any VTL amp, on the mbl speakers and you'll hear that what I'm saying isn't bold, it's accurate. The CAT, on the other hand, drives this speaker with ease and that is what the original poster asked about.

"...but its really hard to grasp that an amp capable of delivering 1250 watts can't handle a 83db speaker even if its only delivering 10 amps of current-"

I do not find it difficult to grasp at all.

"Do you or don't you have experience with MBL 101(c,d or e's) paired with VTL, tube research labs and CAT?"

Yes. Do you? I didn't think so. You seem to depend on specs which are fine for newbies. For you "more watts" are "better" which demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding regarding the nature of electrical power.

"I am wondering if I might be better off thinking about using ss amps instead of the tube approach."

No. Although it's pretty hard to argue against mbl's own ss amps which are wonderful with mbl speakers and are second only on these speakers to the CAT amps in my experience.