New monoblocs for Maxx II, which ones

I would recommend the Lamm M1.2 reference hybrid amps. They are 110 wpc. These have tight, quick bass response, and yet a delicate and extended treble. The mid-range is very refined and it has a nice touch of tube sound in its presentation. (They have one 6922 tube in each monoblock, so you can even do a bit of tube rolling to further enhance the sound, and it allows you to tailor the sound to your tastes. I like the Amperex Orange Globes as a good bang for the buck tube (they are around $20-30/tube), or for the ultimate in sound (& Price!), the Amperex pinched waist tubes are slightly better (albeit for a large increase in price.) The only cavaet of having the Lamm hybrid amps is that they tend to run very warm. (i.e. they will warm your room up a few degrees, but I will gladly accept that in order to get that incredible sound.)

FYI: I use the Lamm M2.1 (200 wpc) hybrid amps with my Revel Studios. I think these are the last amps I will be buying, if not forever, then for a very long time.

Good Luck in your search.

PS The DarTzeel stereo amp might be another good choice as well, since you don't need an incredible amount of power. It is a very refined solid state amp, and while I prefer my Lamms to that, there are some things that the DarTzeel does at least as well, if not slightly better. (It has incredible resolution.)

The speaker is tube friendly. So you have a wide range of amplifiers that will work with the Maxx IIs.

I have the Pass XA-160's powering theh WATT/Puppies and will never upgrade the amps...

Regards,
Bruce

Kurt_Tank: The Lamm M1.2 is an excellent amp, as I owned the M1.1 but the Maxx's are efficent but require lots of current. So I would opt for the M2.2's if you wanted a hybrid design. 45 watts of Class A is really all you need. My Theta Citadel easily bested the Lamm by a long shot in the bass control department and the 2ohm drops in the bass that Wilson Watt Puppy's and Maxx's do, and made the earlier M1.1's sound a little dark and constrained on top but the Lamms are still the most amazingly organic in the midrange. I owned M2.1's before the M1.1's and shouldn't have switched. The extra current is helpful.

Crna39: I totally blanked on the Pass XA series.. that is another option since this has the warmth of the Alph series but has control also. I still think the Theta, Lamm or VTL has better synergy with the Maxx's.

They aren't Exotic but I can't say how happy I am with my Theta Citadel's... The Ayre MXR are a little warmer with a little more air but the Citadels have Slamming bass control and a deeper soundstage with more detail. If I had bought the Ayre MXR's I could have been just as happy. I have heard the Halcro's also and my old Lamm M1.1's but nothing has caused me to want except for the pair of VTL S800's powering my dealers Maxx 2's with the same front end as I have except Transparent Opus (my next upgrade or Reference MM)

A very unique amplifier you might really like is the Butler Monad which is a 100Watt Hybrid Class A transistor amplifier with a a 300b in the output stage as a coupling device, they are hard to find but are unlike any other amplifier on the planet.