What amp is best with Wilson Sasha DAW speakers

@rauliruegas  I think the MFs vs. the JC1 are technically relatively comparable units.  They are similarly priced and are directly competitive in many ways including power, overseas building, etc...  I would never buy the JC1s over the MF M8 500s if I was in that market based on speakers I have owned previously, not because I think the JC1s are technically inferior, but because I prefer a different sound.   

That being said, I am not about to say that I think the MF M8s are in the same league as Ayre MXR Twenty's, anything from D'Agostino or a variety of other companies for SS amps.  They aren't going to sound dreadful and won't be an embarrassment but I am going to go out on a limb and guess that someone who has spent $38K on a pair of speakers is probably not looking for an amp that won't embarrass itself, but rather will deliver the best sound possible.  

I would also argue that given the OPs stated preferences, Parasound, MF, Ayre, D'Agostino and a variety of other SS amps and preamps would be a poor match and that they are likely to prefer tube gear (VTL, ARC, etc) or warmer SS gear like (Pass, Naim, etc...).  Just opinion and worth and probably worth what you paid for it.

I’m also considering the Ayre and the CJ Gat. With vocals I assume the CJ would be better. I’m starting to steer away from the Spectral because it seems very difficult to get right and not many people are recommending it.   I’ve heard from many that I should consider tubes in the preamp at least. I just want it to be very natural organic and neutral.  I may be able to pick up a Pass amp 250.8 to demo in a couple weeks. That might be interesting. 

Dear @carey1110 : Neutral?, well almost all of us look for a neutral audio items but this is extremely elusive characteristic for tube electronics that are far away from there.

Btw, why you are willing to buy the preamp first than the amp? which is what move you in that road and not the other way around?

I ask because I want to learn something about that maybe I’m missing or it’s that I’m just wrong and if it’s that way I would like to know it.

Thank’s in advance.

R.

Btw, the Pass X250.8 is an entry level Pass whole amplifier catalog but good that you will have the opportunity to listen a " touch " of Pass electronics.

The reason for the sudden interest in a preamp  is that my Spectral DMC 20 s2 preamp’s phono stage just stopped working so I had to send it in for repair. So right now I’m without anything. I know I really need to focus on the amp matching the speakers first but I have a Krell 300c which I’m not fond of but it does work. It’s just raggedy in the highs, a little bright. However that was with the spectral preamp too so that may something to do with it. I know tubes aren’t neutral but they have a natural organic sound that can fool me pretty good since I’m not at the recording session. I know you understand what I’m trying to say. BTW I had the Model # wrong on the Pass it is the 260.8. 

@carey1110

Regarding the GAT, you’ll want to give careful consideration to the fact that like most CJ preamps and line stages it has very high gain, 25 db in this case. If you use digital sources, which of course usually provide considerably higher output voltages than phono stage/cartridge combinations, depending on the gain of the amp you end up choosing, and on your listening distance and other variables, the result might be having to use its volume control at undesirably low settings. And while the not particularly high 91 db efficiency of your speakers suggests that might not be an issue, it is a factor that should be considered IMO.

Also, the fact that the GAT provides only unbalanced outputs might result in it not being fully optimal for use with whatever amp you end up choosing. And for that matter there are a few fully balanced amps, notably the Audio Research Ref series of amps, which only provide XLR inputs and in addition cannot be properly driven by single-ended signals even if an RCA-to-XLR adapter is used. In those cases something like a Jensen transformer would have to be used to convert a preamp’s single-ended outputs to a true balanced pair of signals. I mention that, in connection with ARC specifically, because in your initial post you indicated that tube amps are a possibility.

Good luck, in any event. Regards,
-- Al