Amp vs preamp question

A Friend of a friend of mine owns the 7 series Thiels, and has put in place several differring amps, as is my understanding. Krell, Ayre, BAT, and I think a Classe. I'm pretty sure a few Tube amps as well. Last I heard he liked both the BAT vk500 and an Ayre, (the model escapes me now).

I feel as I said above, the speakers will narrow the field by it's own demands.

Impedance curve, efficiency, and freq range. With thiels, I'd venture that SS power would be by far the safer bet for an amp with Theils in the picture. Overall.

There likely are tube amps which will satisfy too.... depending again, on what it is you are looking for ultimately.

The BAT vk51SE is a solid preamp. Great build and some flexibility, and great support. Lots of tubes though... but with SE & XLR output, that should allow a greater field of amps to select from. Keeping built in sysnergy in mind, a pretty safe bet I'd say would be to go BAT amp too.

Given BAT's rep for power resivoirs if a vk51 is likely to be your preamp choice, you could do worse than adding a BAT SS amp. I sure wish I had my VK 500 still.

Whatever the pick... good luck.

If you are asking that question, buy an integrated. :)

Douglas Schroeder has a good point.

You want to be sure what you buy synergizes well. If you are not sure what will, an integrated would be a safe bet. Just make sure the amp can drive the speakers adequately.

Another option is trial and error. Buy used and don't overpay if that is the way you want to go, then if something doesn't work out you can sell and buy something else without taking a loss (who needs more of those these days)?

Very few integrateds have the power, especially into sub 3 Ohm loads, to get the most out of the Thiels.

IMO - Amp/Speakers matching first.
Finding preamp that will complement the amp/speakers synergistic qualities is the trick. Transparency is the goal and prefered coloration - just like salt & pepper- to ones own taste. Gamma of features, ease of use, cosmetics, value - all, just iceing on the cake.
At the end, your system is or will be as good as your weakest link. Speaker>amp>pre>source>rest is my own general rule.