I second the mc402. Tried Marantz, Krell and MF but the combination of the detail on those amps and the detail on the speakers was too much. After the 402 I'm listening to music again and not thinking about my equipment. Although I haven't owned Classe and CJ, from my extensiive reading, I think they might sound good as well especially the CJ. If the mc402 hadn't worked out I was going to try Ayre and CJ. Tubes are a no-go on the Aerial 7Bs. 7Bs are inefficient 85~86 dB and impedance drops in the bass region to low levels (for tubes).