Tannoy Westminister Royal SE Pre-amp Preference?

Wylmars,
Congratulations, you have an excellent foundation for a superb system.You can`t go wrong with the big Tannoy driven by that beautiful sounding Viva 845 tubed amplifier.

I`m bias towards a top quality tube preamp but why not try both tube and solid state and just listen? With your fine amp-speaker duo it won`t take long to sort out what sounds best to you.
Regards,

Fantastic speakers! One good preamp choice is the Canary C900 four-chassis monoblock preamp, comprised of two power supplies and two preamps. Works especially well with complex symphonic and choral music.

I used electrostats pretty much exclusively from around 1973, until I switched to horns (Avantgardes) in around 2006. The amp change sounds right to me; on the preamp, I think it's all about synergy, why not try the Ref 5 for a while, and see how it works? It sure isn't a bad place to start and I gather that the upgrade for the Ref 5 is sonically worthwhile. Once you settle in with your new system, and get set-up nailed, you can easily experiment with a few other line stages, and you are not forced to evaluate too many variables at once. Just curious why you are contemplating a solid state line stage in the first place (not that there is anything wrong with that :)). And, what phono stage will you be using?

Hi Whart - I am hearing something that smacks of IM. It may just be a tube in the REF 5. The tubes are <200 hours old. I'm adjusting to the difference in sound reproduction. To me, the sound of electro-statics are forward in the soundstage. My impression of the Westminister speakers is the sound is 'pushed back' (?) further. My experience with ES speakers is the need for big powerful amps with tubes somewhere in the food chain - like tube pre-amps. The thought came to me that maybe Westministers are the reverse, optimizing with tube amps and solid-state pre-amps. I really don't know what to expect with the big Tannoys.