Actually, I have a Cary Rocket 808 and it works fine with my monitor 7's. I also have a their 10" sub running from my gray market Shrimp-type (Manley) preamp so I don't suffer from what some people see as poor bass reproduction. Personally I think this bass complaint is false, and comes from a rock/solid state attitude (I listen to a lot of rock actually, and I can tell you the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and my wife's Bach chamber cello recordings can go head to head and scare the cats in equal measure - it can get that loud). The tubes are more in line with vinyl's RIAA equaliziation, which always has less bass. But on to more important things: basically what I was told by other tube guys, and it turns out to be true, is that speaker sensitivity is more important than wattage, and that on average, due to conservative ratings and more effecient outputs (read: scary can blow your speakers) 1 tube watt equals about 3 solid state watts. This is because most solid states have anti-meltdown circuits and the sound attenuates (distorts) accordingly. I have engineered a lot of things, grew up on Nagras as an engineer and this is the nicest set up I have heard, including (sacreligous as it is to say my monitor 7's are better) a Nagra and Tannoy pairing for mix monitoring. My 7's run at 91db and the Rocket runs at 87db, so it's really not a problem although the match is a stretch - but my preamp is pretty quiet so I don't get tube hiss, which when you have an amp with lower sensitivity you do have to worry about. They both are very sensitive though, so my advice is not to plug it into a wall outlet on the same circuit breaker as say your fridge, or you will get low db alteranting hum until you get some sort of a snazzy power cord. Basically the Rocket is super transparent while remaining warm and sounds great in full Class A triode (30 watts) or the higher wattage ultra-linear (60 watts). I say go for it but watch your pairing.
