Best Balanced Tube Amp To Pair With Meridian G02?

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

Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts thus far.

Al said "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."

I also could not find an impedance curve for the 17.5's but the specs are as follows:

Silverline 17.5

Specifications
Design (Bass Reflex): 2 way
Drivers: (carefully made for Silverline by Dynaudio*)
One Dynaudio Esotec D260 1.25" soft dome tweeter
One Dynaudio Esotec 17WLQ vented double magnet
long throw 7" mid/woofer
Frequency Response: 32 - 32,000 Hz
Sensitivity (2.8V/1m): 90 dB/1W/1m
Max. Transient Output: 127 dB
Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms
Crossover Frequency: 3,000 Hz
Recommended Power: 15 - 300 WRMS
Dimension (H x W x D): 14" x 8'5" x 15"
Shipping Weight: 90 lbs.(pair)
Speaker Connections: Bi-wire