Best Balanced Tube Amp To Pair With Meridian G02?

However, I have since been told that your amplifiers only perform optimally when linked with one of the preamps of your own design, unfortunately.

Most of the reviews you might have seen on our amps have been done for the most part with single-ended preamps. The amps don't care if the preamp is single-ended or balanced, however its a fact that balanced cables, if driven properly, will sound better for their own reasons. So by default the amps will sound better when driven by a balanced source and our preamps *are* balanced, but the amps are designed to work with **any** preamp.

Nightfall- I can attest that my M-60s sounded great driven by a wide range of pre-amps. However, if you are using an RCA connection, you may to use a shorting pin in the XLR inputs on the amp.

However, I have since been told that your amplifiers only perform optimally when linked with one of the preamps of your own design, unfortunately.

I have no personal experience yet with Ralph's products, but fwiw I believe I can state with certainty that there is no technical reason why that should be so. Both your Meridian and Ralph's preamps are fully balanced, and have low output impedance. The amp will not know the difference, although of course synergy between the sonic characters of those and other components in the system will come into play.

Given that you want a tube amp, I would expect that apart from the intrinsic sonic character of the amp itself, by far the most important interaction that is involved will not be between amp and preamp, but between the amp's output impedance and the impedance vs. frequency characteristic of the speakers. I could not find an impedance curve for the 17.5's, but if you or someone else could locate and provide a link to one I think it would definitely help to focus the recommendations you will receive.

Regards,
-- Al

Ralph, thank you very kindly for your reply, more timely than my checking back in with this thread. This information may very well change my requisites for an amp, which I am in search of at this moment to drive a new pair of speakers I am getting tomorrow. I know I should get tubed, but I am leary of the upkeep (I have had several tubes amps in the past) and more so the neurotic feeling that I am always convinced the tubes need replacing.

Al, I believe the SR-17s are a pretty easy load. I recall several people running them with SET amps, if I am not mistaken. Perhaps somebody else with first hand knowledge can chime in?

I have had mostly great results with pairing a SS preamp and a tube amp. It just depends on the products that you pair and your ears. For example, I have used a CJ PFR amp with several different tube amps for years - it almost always sounded great. By way of comparison, the Krell KCT - not so great; at least with my tube amps.

Why use a SS preamp? Black, quiet background, usually plenty of inputs, often a remote. It's not the only or even the best way to go, but it has worked well for me. YMMV