Audio Research, AYON and Primaluna tube amplifiers.

'For these Sonus Faber’s you need an amp that can almost double it’s wattage from 8ohm to 4ohm to 2ohm (eg: 100w 200w 400w) And that means amps that deliver hefty current. No tube/ Mosfet/Class D amp for these. You need big amp/s that have "bi-polar (bjt)" output stages this type of amp will do these speaker justice. As right through the bass and upper bass they are 2.5ohm, and at the low bass with 4ohms and -50degrees phase angle load (EPG), this can look like 1.5ohms to the amp.

Just a snippet from the Stereophile test results on these speakers.

"With an impedance magnitude that drops to 2.5 ohms throughout the upper bass (fig.1). There is also a punishing combination of 4 ohms magnitude and –50 ° electrical phase angle at 70Hz that will suck gobs of current from the amplifier."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sonus-faber-cremona-elipsa-loudspeaker-measurements#bD5u0G5x4C8Jcr1R.97

Stereophile in the review above used Mark Levinson No.33, Boulder 860 and the Parasound JC1’s these are all bi-polar (bjt) output amps.'

Post written by Georgehifi few years back

OP,

Sonus Faber, Audio Research, and Transparent interconnects are a known synergistic combination. I got there by stumbling upward over fifty years of pursuing the high end. My most consistent preamp was Audio Research.  The recommendation of a Ref 80 amp is good… I currently have REF 160m mono blocks and a Reference 160m… driving my Sonus Faber Amati Traditional in triode mode… so 70 wpc. I occasionally switch out of the triode mode to double the wattage… while the difference in sound is not obvious, I switch back in a couple minutes. 
 

But order of business is their preamps. The ARC preamps are world class, highly detailed, but warm and organic… not tubie, but with great midrange bloom. The amazing thing is the musicality with preservation of details and soundstage. I really recommend the Reference series 5 and higher. I owned a Ref 5SE for many years. I would look on line for used ARC preamps.

www.arcdb.ws

Is a virtually complete database/catalog of all the Audio Research products.

It is not a product of the company, but an ARC fan who obviously is crazy about products. 

Regards,

barts 

I've been using a Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP for three years. The sound is different to me than what I had been used to in traditional vintage tubes. There is no high end roll off, no emphasized mid bass bloom, rather a consistent presentation through the whole spectrum. I've read that this is the modern tube sound that all manufacturers are going for but my experience is only 1970s Dyneco and Jolida before Prima Luna. After a lengthy burn in period I love it. I was using g Tekton Lore speakers but recently switched back to my old Thiel 1.5s. Very happy with the switch as the midrange is much better. But going to add a Rel sub soon. So from a synergy standpoint I can recommend Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP at 75 watts into Thiel 1.5, larger Thiel might require more power. Speaker cables are Nordost Red Dawn. Cables are as relevant as what they connect. 

Hey @ghdprentice could you tell me a little bit more about the detail differences from ARC to Primaluna? I run Primaluna separates and I've been eyeing ARC preamps and assumed that my Dialogue Premium is on par with the ARC LS28 and improvements would have to be at the REF level? Any insights or life experience going from PL to Arc? So many people try to sell them as "close" but I don't buy it.