Linn/Naim user seeks advice on tube pre/ss amp

Naimfan;
Back to your original question, have you considered the Copland 305 hybrid pre-amp? I confess, I haven't heard it personally; but it comes highly recommended by a couple of sources whose ears I've come to respect. Sounds like it might pair well with your kit.

I'm more of a Linn fan since their products are so reasonable on the used market. The Naim prices chased me out of being a continued customer and I didn't reall care for the cabling issues associated with them. But, I don't really see why there is such criticism offered up in this thread. Sure, there are other manufacturers worthy of consideration. I've no problem with that at all. What I would urge you to do if possible is borrow a tube preamp and insert it into your existing mix. The results will astound you. I cannot comment with experience with Naim and what I propose but with the Linn gear the benefits by doing so will show you just how well designed their amps are. I continually get comments from club members about how wonderful my system sounds and for about 20% of the cost of theirs. And this is from members who routinely criticize each others systems fairly harshly.

Panderso said, "Seems to me you can only assess $24K components with reference to others in that stratosphere."

Why not? This is the whole point that a lot of us are saying about Naim - you can compare it to equipment that is a lot less expensive. Same goes with the Nait5, which I'd argue is at least matched in performance by the Sugden and Exposure amps for less money.

I asked a similar question on the Naim site and couple of members suggested hybrids such as those from Croft or Unison Research. They had some other suggestions but I don't recall what they were. I was doing some research on the Unison Unico, but I have never had a chance to hear one. Or you can find a Fisher 400, a tubed unit that does well with PRaT.

Mike

I will chime in, I too have Linn and have owned a fair amount of Naim, I also own tube gear, 1st off...IMHO a worthy tube preamp would be the VTL 2.5 just a sound value for the money...concerning Naim...I found as you go up the ladder you get more of the Naim sound....could be a good thing or a bad thing, depends on what you like...I found with my small speakers...the upper end Naim gear was too much....they really should be matched with larger more demanding speakers....yes it gets mighty expensive quickly. I am fooling around with a Naim 5i and I think it is a good value...the Naim sound..one box..small...it does a high pecentage of what the bigger gear does and it is a whole lot cheaper. Anyway good luck on a good tube preamp