Tvad,
Not sure I understand why it has to be monoblocks. Can't you just as easily place a stereo amp between the speakers with short speaker cables, and run the long interconnect around the room to your rack containing the pre and sources? Regardless, most monos are best way to go.
Why does it have to be balanced? I've run balanced preamps into single-ended amps and visa-versa. You can get long runs of Mogami custom-terminated with XLR on one end and RCA on the others. This avoids adaptor connection points.
If "you go 2 out of 3"(i.e. not balanced)then the VAC rens, the Quicksilver Triodes(badboss427 also can tell you alot about these in his rig), or the Dehavilland Aries 845G all make sense, as well as the Atma M60s that you suggested yourself.
The Aries 845G are class A, zero feedback, single-ended, and quite powerful for SET amps. They are designed to drive a wide variety of speakers unlike most SETs. They provide much of the magic that good OTLs possess, without the issue of impedance matching problems. The use the Electoprint trannies, which are supposed to be some of the best available(I'm no techie), perhaps someone else could comment on that. Kara Chafee at Dehavilland has been super in terms of making sure that I get the best performance out of my amps.
If you must stick w/balanced, I'd stay with Atma-Spheres, and make sure you match with speakers that don't dip much below 8ohms at any frequency. IMHO, autoformers degrade the sound too much. Ralph can point you towards many compatible speakers if you need ideas on that. Cheers,
Spencer
Not sure I understand why it has to be monoblocks. Can't you just as easily place a stereo amp between the speakers with short speaker cables, and run the long interconnect around the room to your rack containing the pre and sources? Regardless, most monos are best way to go.
Why does it have to be balanced? I've run balanced preamps into single-ended amps and visa-versa. You can get long runs of Mogami custom-terminated with XLR on one end and RCA on the others. This avoids adaptor connection points.
If "you go 2 out of 3"(i.e. not balanced)then the VAC rens, the Quicksilver Triodes(badboss427 also can tell you alot about these in his rig), or the Dehavilland Aries 845G all make sense, as well as the Atma M60s that you suggested yourself.
The Aries 845G are class A, zero feedback, single-ended, and quite powerful for SET amps. They are designed to drive a wide variety of speakers unlike most SETs. They provide much of the magic that good OTLs possess, without the issue of impedance matching problems. The use the Electoprint trannies, which are supposed to be some of the best available(I'm no techie), perhaps someone else could comment on that. Kara Chafee at Dehavilland has been super in terms of making sure that I get the best performance out of my amps.
If you must stick w/balanced, I'd stay with Atma-Spheres, and make sure you match with speakers that don't dip much below 8ohms at any frequency. IMHO, autoformers degrade the sound too much. Ralph can point you towards many compatible speakers if you need ideas on that. Cheers,
Spencer