TRL Dude Dilemna


Based on all the high praise for the TRL Dude preamp here and other sites, I took a chance and bought one from a local A-goner to see if it could displace an Air Tight ATC-2 preamp currently in my system. The two amps I currently use are a McIntosh MC-402 and Viva 845 SET Monos. It turns out that the Dude is not compatible with either amps due to an impedance mismatch. So I only got to hear the Dude in a compromised performance mode.
I was not quite wanting to give up on the Dude yet given everyone else's enthusiasm about its performance. I am considering the Samson monos as a natural match. I can convince myself that the Samson's could be better than the MC402..My real issue is that I would have to give up the Vivas. Not sure I can make the leap that a solid state amp will satisfy me as much as those SET Vivas. Then there is the leap of faith that I cannot hear the Samsons with purchasing them....
Has anyone replaced their SET amp with Samsons and remained satisfied with the decision? My speakers are the Green Mountain Audio Continuum 3 which are about 90db efficient with an impedance 6.5 Ohms, +/- 0.75 Ohms 150Hz to 20kHz. Thanks for your input..
tellefsen
interesting but tangential data. Audiogon has become the land of bunny trails and subconscious agendas....
Just a quick update. I did get to borrow an Aesthetix Atlas amp for demo from a local dealer. It has a 450K input impedance. It was a very high performing combo...Clearly better than my Air Tight ATC-2/MC402 combo. Comparing to the Air Tight/Viva combo was a much closer contest. The Viva has that SET purity that the Atlas could not quite match...but the Atlas was very good in the areas of soundstaging, micro and macro dynamic, low volume detail.
If I could make the Viva work with the Dude it would be an easy choice. Maybe I try the Burson audio buffer as an experiement. It also still has me thinking about the Samson...
very interesting.

Samsons or Paul's newest tube amp. There are two guys in Dallas with Dudes and Paul's big tube amps. You should give them a shout: Gallant_diva (system Texas Heat) and Tuongsy.