What preamp to pair with Spectron

Forgot about the Modwright 36.5. Another good choice.

For what it worth not Modright 36.5 - I auditioned it and I did not like it. I heard in at RMAF 2008 with Spectrons and I did not like the resulting sound very much. They were presented there with Audio Analyses speakers. In CES 2009, the Spectron-Audio Analyses room got "Best Sound in the Show" and deservely so. The preamp, I believe was BAT (Joule-Electra was just starting its production)

For money, Audio Valve is excellent preamp - I agree here and I know nothing about Wyre4Sound preamp.

All The Best
Rafael

I'm using the Joule-Electra LA300-ME with the Spectron monoblocks. Some of the virtues: remarkably quiet, detailed, huge soundstage, tremendous slam, amazing bass. But keep in mind, XLR is not standard with the Joule.

I use a Supratek Sauvignon (upgraded V-caps) with my Spectron with very good results. IMHO the Spectron works best being driven by a tube pre-amp.

I had the ARC Ref3 with my V-cap/Bybee Spectron monoblocks and it was not a great match - very hard sound and a rising top end prominance.

I also tried my highly modded Sonic Frontiers Line 3 and that didn't have the sound I was looking for, despite the obvious excellence of the Spectrons.

I then tried the MBL 5011 and that was just great. I moved the demo to the MBL 6010D and decided to keep that. I can't actually say the 6010 sounds better than the 5011 as I never had them side by side, but the bigger 6010 is dynamic, quiet, textured and faithfull to the source and has clarity and the 'emotion' to draw me in to the music. I am set with this combo for some time and bear in mind I have been a tube man for over 20 years prior to this current set up! Nothing against tubes with Spectrons, but good SS gear is a proven formula in my set up.

My source is a Micro-Seiki SX-8000 air w/ Grandezza arm and Allnic Verity Z or ZYX UNIverse into Pathos Inthegroove or Aesthetix IO sig phono stages. Digital is Macbook and Kora Hermes DAC. Current speakers are Martin Logan Requests, soon to be compared with Apogee Scintillas.

Either MBL is a great choice and even though I have not tried it with Spectron, the Burmester preamps might be something to consider as well.