proac tab. 50's w/ low powered tube amp?

Hi Jwha, I'm a friend of your brother Eric! In fact he's the one that first turned me on to the Virtual Dynamics cables and cords that have been in my system for the past year.

I own both ProAc 1SCs and Tab 50 Signatures and agree tubes in the signal path before them are very beneficial. The 1SCs and Tab 50 Sigs while being lively and revealing are also warm and sweet. They also soundstage magnificantly. I feel tubes aid these qualities even more.

Currently I'm using the Blue Circle BC21 tube preamp with their BC22 solid state amp and like it. I have a Pass Aleph 3 on loan from Viggen and it seems there is some definite synergy with the ProAcs. Although only rated at 30wpc, the Aleph 3 has no problem with the 1SCs. However, even though the ProAc monitors I have are quite small their sensitivity is roughly in the 85-86dB area which isn't very efficient. I've read that ProAc monitors are SET friendly and can be powered by low power tube amps, but I am suspicious of this. Hopefully some other people can offer you clearer advice.

Good luck and say hi to Ewha!
Dean

Hi Gunbei,

Thanks for the response. I've decided to pass on the ProAcs, mostly because of the sensitivity rating. I'm hoping to come across a used pair of Omega TS3 speakers which are single-driver 94db speakers that are supposed to be extremely low-power tube-friendly.

My brother is coming into town this week, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of late-night analysis and discussion around what to do next on my system.

Jwha
A high sensitivy rating does not make a speaker "Tube Friendly" see the article http://www.symphonysound.com/articles/tubefriendly.html