Amp choice for VA Mahlers

i mostly listen to music and am inclined to follow your advice to go with a good pre amp and integrate it into the setup. I could see going with the Gamut amp and one of the preamps you mentioned. There is a vk20 BAT pre although I get the impression that the tube BATS are more impressive. For AR I wouldnt know which ones have a bypass. I go look at there site and see whats available out there. There are some used CLasse cp60 could work and importantly their tech support say it can be rewired to 220v.
I had taken a view that HT needed to be good to be enjoyable whereas 2 channel can be taken far because your attention is 100% focused on the music and therefore one can really invest and appreciate the difference

Quigly, there are many good recommedations here. I currently have the Strauss being driven by a Threshold T400 with great success. I do not beleive, however, that you will get the full benefit of the Mahlers or a new amp while using a SSP. If you listen to a lot of music (I'm 80% music and 20% HT), I'd recommend a stereo preamp with a SSP bypass. There are many quality choices out there, Audio Research, BAT, Cary, Classe, Ayre, Sonic Frontiers, just to name a few. I own a Classe CP-60 which sounds better on music than any SSP I've owned or listened to. (I have owned units from Proceed and Classe and auditioned Anthem, Aragon, Krell). I have a Denon receiver for the center and surround channels and processing HT. Then I have the front L/R preamp outputs of the Denon feed into the SSP inputs of my CP-60, so I can use my Strauss as my fronts. I, for one, will never go back to the high end SSP category. If you are mostly HT and do not listen to much music, then you may be better served with a SSP.

Regards,
John

Go for the GamuT D200 mk2.

Spend extra $$$ on a nice AC cord.
I would suggest a Kimber Palladium PK10 if you can afford it o a BMI Shark or a VD Nite w/SOL.

These cords are not cheap, but will make your GamuT sound a lot better. The D-200 with a stock cord is good, but with one fo the above AC cords it can be freakin amazing.

KF

Good to hear from everyone on what works. Tricky to do a cost benefit analysis here. I live in London where i am seeing a GAMUT D200 mk2 at a good price. CAM350 may be available in continental europe. Theta out there. I am inclined to get a pre /proc that is good w music, possibly classe SSP30 (reasonable price) and move existing Marantz gear to secondary duty in my kids room (everyone gets an upgrade). The gamut is easy to get a hold of and I can almost visualise liking it, the classe is a bit of a stretch financially but I know I can fill in the back channels with some of there less expensive 2 channels or even my existing ROskans. I originally was totally dedicated to 2 channel and wondering if the 5.1 new formats were even worthwhile but I must admit that ever since I have the Malher s , I can truly hear a difference. I am willing to beleive that you dont have to exactly match all of the amps, it seems that if you are starting from nothing you may as well . I have the rel strata III but never run it with the Mahlers in 2ch since overkill. Have it on very lightly even with movies. I appreciate all of the feedback. I will make a point to come back and tell you what happens next.

I also have the Mahlers and use McIntosh SS and they sound fine with that softer sound, no harshness at all. 200 watts of McIntosh SS will drive them sufficiently for HT. Although my system is entirely 2 channel and watch movie's 2 channel with them.

I also have the Mahlers and I am using a pair of Classe CAM 350 monoblocs. While expensive ($7000)they sound
great. They produce a wide deep soundstage, almost 3D at times. The entire musical frequency range is reproduced
very accurately and without any harshness. The best suprise
was how dynamic the 350's are. Both the micro and macro
dynamics just seem to come alive. It makes listening to
music and DVD soundtracks exciting but never tiresome. You
can listen to this combination for hours at a stretch and not get listener fatigue. The CAM 350 absolutely nails the bass. It takes some wattage to control those four Eaton 10" woofers (or subwoofers as V.A. calls them). If you like bass then you are in for a treat. It is very fast, tight and musical. On DVD soundtracks with lots of bass the effect is outstanding. It may even be enough for you to eliminate a subwoofer. There are several excellent power amps that work well with Mahlers, (Rowland, Edge, Theta, GAmut, Levinson, BAT) and each sounds a little different but all sound very good. But the Classe CAM 350's brought more life and excitement to my system than the others. By the way Quigly, what pre amp are you using?

The D-200 is a great amp for driving the Mahlers. I have Mahlers being driven by the D-200 amp. My center channel is driven by my receiver. I have not invested in a center channel amp. Personally, I think matching amps for HT is over rated. Matching speakers is very important (at least the center with the L and R speakers, but as long as you have a HT preamp that can match volumes (my receiver even has equalization for speaker correction and room correction [oh the fun HT is, never would I put something like this in my 2 channel setup]).

KF