integrated Tube C-J CAV50 for Proac 2.5

Thanks. Art. Now I need make decision among there choices:

1) stick with ProAC2.5 and sell my CAV50 and Spendor sp2/2 to get ARC gears (VT100 + SP8 pre ?? I guess)

2) keep CAV50 and upgrade spendor to sp1/2 or sp100. and
say good bye to my dreaming ProAC2.5 ~

BUT NOW ANOTHER ISSUE ARISED: DOES C-J CAV50 HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO DRIVE SP1/2 OR SP100??? My budget is really limit
and i don;t want to break my bank and credit card company
during the upgrade.

THANKS.

I drive Proac D25 with a Plinius 9200 intergrated sounds amazing... Might want to try the Plinius or another really good solid state integrated..

That depends on your taste. I have personally wanted badly to switch from tubes to solid state, and I've tried numerous times, but always find something missing when I do. Others seem make the switch comfortably, or not, depending on taste.

This is not an easy decision, totally subjective, but I do think the Proac is a noticable step up from the particular Spendors that you mention. And I think the CAV-50 power and sound character rather limits your choice of speakers. For example, you could probably power many of the Silverline speakers comfortably with the CAV-50, but I'm not sure the sound qualities would complement each other (they might).

I have always found ARC gear to be a little bit too lean for my tastes, but I've not heard the latest generation.

The Proac 2.5 definitely benefits from power. 100 wpc might be plenty for a small room but marginal for a larger room. The high water mark for sound quality in my home was when I had the Conrad Johnson Premier 12's (140 wpc, tube watts) and was switching back and forth between the Proac 2.5's and the Spendor FL-9's.

Sigh. In solid state, a good value is the Plinius 8200 version II. That would be worth trying out with the Proac 2.5, as would the ARC I suppose. The Plinius needs a heavier nonstock power cord and also 24 hours to run in.

Art

Art. thanks. it seems that we have same taste. I really
want to have spendor and proAC sound at my home.. but can not affford two sets of amplifier. I like the sound of C-J
, it made me move from SS to tube no doubt. I may try
8200 MkII. But I am wondering if i can go with C-J premier 11a (~$1600) plus a ARC pre-tube amplifer.... Do you have any suggestion on pre-amp for 11a?? (less than $800 used)

Derek

FWIW I've had both Plinius's 8200MKII and now the 9200. The 9200 is a better sounding amp, quite a bit. Yes you do need a better AC cord, I've been pretty happy with a Shunyata Taipan. Also I'd suggest if you can listen to the new Proac D25 it's a better and different animal from the 2.5 new tweeter , woofer and crossover. It still sounds like a Proac but faster and less romantic than the 2.5 but still musical in the Proac way. And yes Proac's love tubes but big ones with grunt. Some of the best sound I ever had was Proac Response 2's with ARC Classic 120 mono's Shame they kept blowing up...