Good preamp with Merlin TSM speakers?

I see an ARS-Sonum Filharmonia integrated listed for sale. I hear it's a good match for Merlins as well. Which way to go?

I would recommend a deHavilland UltraVerve. Just buy it new from Kara Chaffee. She will custom make it for you to match your amplifier and with lettering. Class A. 

I was a dealer for Merlin and Joule Electra and deHavilland. Much preferred the deHavilland. 

Give me a call with questions.
Jim

Bobby used to recommend the all of the following depending on the system & user goals:

Joule Electra
CAT
At most shows these two brands were almost always featured. 


First Sound
Modwright
Analogue Audio
Belles

Cheers,
Spencer

@pmboyd Of all the Joule preamps, the older LA-100 (MKIII which is the last version of the LA100 being the best due its construction, the remote used, etc) will be the one with the most "flesh on the bone"... the later LA-150(MKII) is better in a number of ways and retains much of the LA-100MKIII's tonal character (due to its dual mono all 6350 tube based topology mainly... gives better soundstaging, bass goes deeper with better definition etc).

@jmcgrogan2 has a good bean on what used units are going for in his post. Well cared for used units are not hard to come by, and I am available if you need support, tubes or service or just want to give a used unit you buy a check-up before paling it into service in your system.

The Ars-Sonum Filarmonia is a great match for the TSMs (its what is playing in my listening room right now), but it is a integrated and it sounds like you want to stick with separates. Full disclosure, I am the sole authorized dealer/distributor for Ars Sonum products in the USA and I do have used Ars Sonum amplifiers available from time to time as customers upgrade or move on to other gear (contact me directly or watch for my ads here on audiogon for when i have such items available).

Back to Joule-Electra, I have recently made a number updates and additions to my Joule-Electra reference/information page on my web site. http://sigsound.com/classic-product-info/joule-electra-info-page/ It has a bunch of scans of old product literature, show hand outs, etc and even old price lists, plus PDF scans of (or links to) reviews and other assorted info. I still need to get around to adding (scanning to PDF then uploading) owners manuals though.

One last note to pmboyd, what versions are your TSMs??? If a older version (i.e not the last Black Magic version), have you considered updating them??? I know a guy who does that exactly as Bobby P at Merlin did. ;-)

Hope this helped!

Rich Brkich
Signature Sound

Bobby used to recommend the Joule Electra to me as well when I was a dealer. When I heard the deHavilland I dropped the Joule Electra line completely. Those stupid Russian " super " tubes suck........the life out of the sound.