As all of the components listed above can be very good to excellent, do not disregard the importance of synergy. I feel like I am beating a dead horse, but due to my many upgrade experiences, one piece of equipment may sound glorious within a specific system, yet be lacking in another. For example; I have recently run an Atma-Sphere MP-1 with A-S amps into Avalon speakers. Not until I swapped cabling and tweaked the front end did I achieve a very musical presentation. I also own a Jadis JP 80 preamp, which I have found to be one of the most musical components, making it one of my favorites. With a Jadis amp I found it musical, but golden-honey colored. With a pair of Classe CAM 200's it retained much of it's musical character, but had better delineation, much deeper bass response and just plain sucked me in. Still colored. But along side the Atma-Sphere amps it lacked the speed, the bloom and most importantly, the involvement.
This is just one example of my endeavors in the mix and match game. It compels me to criticize the audio magazines for reviewing a component, often without the capability to enter in another piece, possibly more fitting. Recently, Robert Harley reviewed the Avalon Eidelon Diamonds, and although for the most part he well complemented the speaker, he critiqued (I paraphrase)the speaker as being less capable than similarly priced speakers of reaching the lower frequencies. With my Atma-Shere amp/preamp combo I agree, but with the Jadis/Classe the bass is deep and extremely musical.
I realize I have left the topic, but like many of you, I continue to search for a system that comes closer to a live performance. Somehow, getting the detail without losing the body and soul is a real trick and I do not believe any one component or cable or listening room for that matter, can offer that. My 15 years in this "holy grail" search has taught me to trust the listening.... BTW, all the pre's listed, needless to say, are really, really good.
This is just one example of my endeavors in the mix and match game. It compels me to criticize the audio magazines for reviewing a component, often without the capability to enter in another piece, possibly more fitting. Recently, Robert Harley reviewed the Avalon Eidelon Diamonds, and although for the most part he well complemented the speaker, he critiqued (I paraphrase)the speaker as being less capable than similarly priced speakers of reaching the lower frequencies. With my Atma-Shere amp/preamp combo I agree, but with the Jadis/Classe the bass is deep and extremely musical.
I realize I have left the topic, but like many of you, I continue to search for a system that comes closer to a live performance. Somehow, getting the detail without losing the body and soul is a real trick and I do not believe any one component or cable or listening room for that matter, can offer that. My 15 years in this "holy grail" search has taught me to trust the listening.... BTW, all the pre's listed, needless to say, are really, really good.