What preamp goes with sim audio w-5?

Hi Pedrillo,

I have heard a variety of Sim Audio gear including your amp as well as the 2 integrateds in the series. Unfortunately I am not a big fan of the sim audio sound and have heard some decent sounding setups and some horrible sounding setups with simaudio ... it seems to me that engineering is more important than music as far as their design philosophy goes.

2 combo's through electrostatic speakers:

Sim Audio Equinox with I-5 integrated into a pair of Martin Logan Aeon i's with Ultralink interconnects (ic's) and speaker cables (sc's) throughout and powerconditioning and powercords (pc's) by shunyata (older hydra 4 with copperheads throughout) ... this system sounded very nice but became fatiguing when interconnects were changed to Harmonic Tech's best silver ic's with Cardass Cross sc's (higher resolution).

Cary 306 player through VTL preamp and into the W-5 with Cardas Cross ic's and sc's throughout also into a pair of Martin Logan Aeon i's ... no powerconditioning here but all pc's were copperheads. This was the worst system I've ever heard. Completely sterile (even more than Krell systems which I had previously thought to be the worst in that regard) with clean bass lean midrange and strident highs, no musical coherence present, zero involvement, good for outdoor pool parties perhaps. Very bad association of gear here.

2 more systems:

Andromeda player with the new pre and its partnering amp (W-7 I believe) with Cardass Golden pc's and Golden Cross ic's throughout entire system, into a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 5's, again no powerconditioning here ... second worst system I've ever heard (can't believe sim used it to showcase their gear at the Montreal show ... kind of made me wander what music the sim audio engineers listen to) ... me and my wife were not alone in our judgements and in fact we were the only 2 people left in the seats following our single song listening session ... very fatiguing and unpleasant in the near field.

Eclipse limited edition SE player into a reference VTL preamp and out into a pair of Aerospace 140 wpc OTL's driving a pair of Dynaudio Evidence Temptations, all cables cardas golden reference with powerconditioning by shunyata (hydra 8 with anaconda's on the digital front end and pre and taipans to the amps). Despite the impendance mismatch here (OTL's driving the Dynaudio's) I preferred this sound to many other systems I've come across ... very musical and refined with plenty of power and dynamics, mind you limited by the amp of course but still very enjoyable. I also heard this same system wired with shunyata ic's and sc's (aries and andromeda) and I must say it sounded very dissapointing compared to the cardas cables.

hope this sheds some light on your question, wish I could be of more help but unfortunately I stayed away from sim audio after what I heard at the show this year. If you like their sound, consider the sim audio p-5 pre, it may be a good match for you.

Remy

true to the point audio4ever, you also fail to mention that unless your cd collection comprises reference recordings only, you will quickly stop listening to music altogether with the sim audio setup you mentioned above.

As far as "euphonic, colored" sound goes ... well that's always up for debate. I prefer to believe that I am involved in the music I hear instead of feeling like I just walked into a surgery room ... a good analogy between the system I prefer and the one you describe above.

The Audio Aero Capitole MKII SE/YBA Passion combo I use is definitely fast,transparent and musical without sounding colored ... just go out and audition these 2 lines for yourself. They are not mushy or larger than life as described above, and most people who have had decent exposure to world class tubes know that they can sound just as good if not better than most solid state gear out there (go audition some Nagra, Lamm or Tenor gear, they mop the floor with Sim Audio in A/B comparisons).

I think my preference for musicality and emotion has been clearly stated ...furthermore tubes and solid state can - and have - mated very well in many systems here on audiogon. This goes a long way to show that tubes can reach certain qualities that may be lacking in some solid state technology and can be an integral part of many reference level systems.