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Tannoy Westminister Royal SE Pre-amp Preference?

For thirty years, I have been a proponent of electro-static speakers. Six weeks ago, I acquire brand new Tannoy Westminister Royal SE speakers. My electronics have been tailored to electro-statics; powerful solid-state power amps (Classe Omega Omicron) with tube pre-amps (ARC REF 5). Now it seems low-power high-quality tube amp(s) are in order with the Westminister speakers. My question is simple (hmm ...): should I consider using a high-quality solid-state pre-amp with equally high-quality tube (Viva Auroa) power amps? Or, should I retain the ARC pre-amp for use with tube mono-blocks/amp?
wylmars
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Wylmars,
Congratulations, you have an excellent foundation for a superb system.You can`t go wrong with the big Tannoy driven by that beautiful sounding Viva 845 tubed amplifier.

I`m bias towards a top quality tube preamp but why not try both tube and solid state and just listen? With your fine amp-speaker duo it won`t take long to sort out what sounds best to you.
Regards,
jburidan
672 posts
 
Fantastic speakers! One good preamp choice is the Canary C900 four-chassis monoblock preamp, comprised of two power supplies and two preamps. Works especially well with complex symphonic and choral music.
whart's avatar
whart
1,930 posts
 
I used electrostats pretty much exclusively from around 1973, until I switched to horns (Avantgardes) in around 2006. The amp change sounds right to me; on the preamp, I think it's all about synergy, why not try the Ref 5 for a while, and see how it works? It sure isn't a bad place to start and I gather that the upgrade for the Ref 5 is sonically worthwhile. Once you settle in with your new system, and get set-up nailed, you can easily experiment with a few other line stages, and you are not forced to evaluate too many variables at once. Just curious why you are contemplating a solid state line stage in the first place (not that there is anything wrong with that :)). And, what phono stage will you be using?
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