wilson

Lamm M1.2 reference are the only way to go with the Watt Puppy 7.

My experience with wilson speakers is you need some power behind them. WP7's can play very low and need the power to control the puppies.

I have WP8's and the VTL 450's and I think they are a match made in heaven. low listening levels they are very good, however Wilson speakers like to be played loud. I find mine really come alive around 75-80db.

I have no horse in this race stanwine, but I would strongly urge you to not waste the extra money on the likes of Lamm or VTL or any other of the overpriced nonsense sold these days...been there done that! Audition a VS115 amp from audio research...it will make great music and you could get an LS26 or even a Ref 3 as well for the price of one of the other amps. You could even skip the preamp and go with a wadia or levinson CDP with direct connect volume control...less stuff makes for purer sound.

>>You could even skip the preamp and go with a wadia or levinson CDP with direct connect volume control...less stuff makes for purer sound.<<

That's hardly true.

In my experience, in more cases than not, a linestage in conjunction with a digital source is preferable to the digital source direct.

I was hoping you would respond Audiofeil. It makes me smile inside everytime we disagree. You with your seasoned self assured vision of what is and should be and then there is me with...shall we say, a more impressionistic and impassioned approach to things audio:) You are correct here, most of the time a great linestage will improve things, but I have used the ARC/Wilson/Levinson combo before and it does sound awful nice sans preamp. All depends on your listening criteria and budget.