Suggestion for preamp - Spendor's & Cary

Kt88, Interesting comments. Did I somewhere say that you were wrong re your comments about 6922 based tube amps in general? I don't think so!

I have had an ARC (an SP10 and its partnered D115) for many years that uses 6922's/6dj8's. This has created a long term interest in ARC products including their amps and much hands on tube experimentation. I was also aware of their SP8 which used some 12AX's and the SP16 which has gone back to using 12AX's. Did I not say that many folks would consider ARC's to be cool in tone...? Did I not recommend ARC as a possible choice that would work for him?

What I did say, and apparently this is what offended you, was to keep an open mind re tube type, once again refering to an ARC tube pre-amp. Apart from the ARC SP16 and SP8, I happen to have another non ARC Line stage which uses 2 12AU7's and one 12AX7 and can sound, tonally, almost identical to my ARC (depending on the tube selection I make).

So your friends are right, you are right, but in my mind its never wrong to keep an open mind regarding other possibilities.

More importantly perhaps, if you have personally experienced 'other possibilities' then shouldn't you pass them on to folks who need the information? At least thats how I operate. Sorry if this offended you.

In the future I will recall your declaration that "you are definitely the last word when it comes to audio" and I'll act more deferential. :-)

Newbee

LOL!! Actually the line should have been written " I myself am definitely NOT NOT NOT the last word when it comes to high-end audio "

I am not offended in your post all at. Just having a casual voice of opinion. Yes it is good to keep an open mind about things. My only point was to steer the gent to what would open up the system the most.

88

Thanks to both of you Gentlemen for the advice. I will look into the reviews of the brands you have suggested.

For a moment I thought I was getting direction from the allmighty himself - Newbee, you shouldn't have corrected yourself. I was quite impressed. :)

Late post. The Spendors, all big Spendors, devour power. The more quality tube power you can feed them the better. Forget their power rating, feed them plenty. Things just get better. I would look at some strong monblocs and stick with tubes. Spendor and great tube gear is one the best sounds out there, no doubt. You just need to power them up to have them shine.

I used the Cary V12i with my Spendor 1/2e speakers and at 50 watts triode/100 watts ultralinear that just was not enough power for them. I moved to a 225 watt custom made solid state amp and the difference was not subtle. The speakers really opened up, especially in the bass and lower frequencies. I'll not advocate you get a solid state amp, but there are several high power tube amps/hybrids out there you should look at as an alternative. This IMO would give you more bang for the buck versus a new tube preamp.