paul, yes the bam likes the buffering and i designed it to be used that way. but undertand that we have many using the bam between a pre and power or with a passive line stage and preferring it that way. it still is a matter of taste to a point, but i know yours and you will prefer it used the way it was intended to be. passives and digital amps work well with underdamped speakers as you know. the vsm/bam limits the bandwidth to the resonant frequency (28 hz) of the woofer so there is no 2nd and 3rd order distortion. in essence the slower boomy bass that is caused by these distortions is gone and that is why the vsm/bam combination likes the tube buffering.
ok?
best regards,
b