PX-25 tube amp with Merlin VSM speakers?

FWIW, I had the Art Audio Carissa which had the attenuator. On it if you opened the attenuator completely it was removed from the signal path. I used it in this manner with a pre-amp. I believe all the AA amps are configured this way that have the volume control.

The Carissa was ont of the best amps I have owned or heard. I wish I could afford to get another one. I really miss that amp.

Ha anyone compared the Carissa to the Diavolo? I've heard great things about the Carissa but don't know much about the Diavolo.

I've never heard the Diavolo but FWIW, I've spoke with Joe Fratus (he used to be the man behind Art Audio line in the US) a couple times and I got the impression that the Diavolo was his favorite amp in the lineup.

Dazzlingmd, check out the reviews at 6moons. They have write-ups on the Carissa, Diavolo, Jota and Symphony.

The late John Potis, one of the best reviewers wether on the Internet or print, wrote a perfect review of the Carissa and described it sound and character beautifully. He absolutely nailed it.

Also, I do believe Brf's comment has some value to it. Good luck with your amp search.

Brf nailed it. Quite simply, the Merlin is not suited to most SETs due to their efficiency. Dazzlingmd, your room is only a little smaller than mine, and my speakers are almost 10 db(!) more efficient, yet I find that its nice to have the extra power if I really want to enjoy the speakers. Take that extra 10db away (equivalent to 10x the power) and its just not going to work that well.

If the speaker requires that you are push an SET past about 20% of its full power on peaks, you will not be hearing all the amp has to offer and likely not all the speaker has to offer either. In this case, because the speaker is a medium efficiency, you really need more than just 7-12 watts to really make it play. The bigger you make an SET, the more the bandwidth is degraded by the output transformer.

The advantage of an SET is that it has distortion that linearly decreases to unmeasurable as power is decreased. When you remove distortion, detail is revealed. This is why SETs are known for their great 'inner detail'. However the flip side of the coin is if you want to get everything out of the amp that it really can do, you should not exceed 20% of full power, since above that level the higher ordered harmonics (to which the ear is very sensitive) come into play. That is why the best SET installations often include horn loudspeakers.

You may encounter people that may try to convince you otherwise, but IME (The Merlin is the most popular speaker used with our M-60 amplifiers) you really do need some power to make the speaker sing, even if only a moderate amount. The speaker is very revealing and has surprising bandwidth; what I am saying here is that the performance of the amp won't be realized neither will that of the speaker if you use a low powered SET on it, unless you are in a very small room.