Dude TRL vs Red Wine Isabella vs Dodd

At $2800 used the Samson's are a steal. Pair it with a Dude if you can. Otherwise the Dodd suggestion is a good one based on price to performance.

If you have already heard the RWA and know you like it I think you have your answer. I agree it should match up well with the Samsons.

TRL is a leap of faith but you will be rewarded. Grannyring's review of the Samson's is spot on. Also, read the review of the Dude preamp by Agear.

Being that you are in Europe makes this tougher, but FWIW TRL's customer base for their uber watt tube amps included many customers located in Japan.

While the Tannoy's are efficient enough at 96db with 8 ohms nominal impedance, even the published specs recommend 50 - 275 watts. If you have a smallish room and won't be driving them at loud volume maybe the RWA 30.2 would be enough, but I would think the 70.2 monoblocks would be much better.

On the other hand the Samson's would be no problem and at the price you could purchase them for I wouldn't get hung up on the same equipment paradigm. I owned the stereo version of the Samson's (at the time called D-225) and ran them with a TRL preamp, as well as preamps from Cary, Joule Electra, JRDG, and even a custom passive TVC. It all sounded great in my system. Speakers were Spendor 1/2e at the time.

Don't get hung up on battery power either. In my experience a well designed linear power supply is better than a battery power supply. TRL develops some of the best and beefiest high current power supplies I have ever seen. The headroom in the Samson's will do wonders for macro and micro dynamics and transient attacks. However, the best test is at low listening levels where the amp will deliver extremely linear and clear sound that you won't believe until you hear it.

I wouldn't go so far as to say you could use the Samson's with any preamp, but from my experience I had no issues using different preamps and I don't see why a Dodd Audio or Red Wine Isabella wouldn't work. In fact, if your digital source has enough output, try a passive preamp. Some of the best sound I got was using the D-225 with a passive TVC (the Samson's are highly sensitive at about .8V and have higher gain than most amps). Then again I'm probably part of a very small minority that is a big fan of passive preamps. TRL can help you with a passive preamp as well to match the Samson's.

As for comparison to other amps. Well I think the biggest difference is the Samson's have the ability to play with "balls" or finesse based on your listening tastes. I've cranked up mine with no distortion issues and listened at the lowest levels late night and not missed a note. Rock, complex classical recordings, solo cello, chamber music, whatever you through at it the Samson's will handle it. My VAC amps I use now can crank it out, but at low level I do sense minor loss of dynamics and bass linearity. My Cary amp used to peter out too easily and was very colored. TRL will be very transparent. It will power your speakers with ease and run cool and efficiently in the process.

If you read Grannyring's review here on Audiogon I think you will find all the qualities you described in the amp. I certainly did with mine. The TRL house sound will draw you into the music. I wouldn't say it is bass heavy, but if you have never heard accurate bass reproduction before from an amp be prepared for a new experience with the Samson's. Of course your other components, including your room, need to be up to the task as well.