Advice on tube amp/pre

Thanks for that, if it struggled with the 1sc's it may indeed be a challenge with the d25. I am very interested to pursue an ARC pre, it may be i do it in two steps ($$!) but hoping that the pre and moon amp are OK combo to live with for a while.

I'm sure it will be ok. If you want to go tubes and have the space,I'd highly recommend the Manley Snappers.

ARC in recent years hasn't put all that much effort into full-function tube preamps, prefering instead to sell the phono stage in a separate chassis. But if you are still looking for an ARC tube preamp, the SP14 I hear is great.

Unless you like your music loud and/or have a very large room, you shouldn't need a ton of power. However if it were me, I would want more power than the Stingray has for D25s. But you should check out this system and maybe email its owner to see what he says:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1158422873&read&keyw&zzd38

Arthur

Thanks for the additional responses. That looks like an interesting Cary system. Thanks also the pointer on the Snappers. They may be in my price point.

You should be able to get a good used pair of snappers for under$3000. There's a stong market for them so you can try them and sell them if your not happy.

Greg