Best matching amp for Wilson W/P6, any sudgestions

Hamburg, I did not have as many choices of amp and preamp as you did but I am not at all surprised by your choices and found myself in total agreement.

Overall I also prefer the sound of solid-state amp and preamp with the Watts/Puppies. I also found that tubes give me that magic in the midrange but at the expense of tightness and transparency as you put it. Your choices also support my findings that the Watts/Puppies demand the very best of ss electronics to really blossom.

I am also comforted by your findings that the Watts/Puppies do not necessarily demand huge power, just very clean power. I also found that high current/class A amps with stiff power supplies work best.

I think you should consider two sets of amps and two preamps. While I don't run the watt/puppies, I do run the Duettes. I too have found the Levinson to be a very good match with these speakers. In fact, I have usually run a Audio Aero Capitole direct to the ML amp with excellent results.

During the colder months of the year, I run the BAT VK 60s in mono (120 wpc) via a BAT VK5i pre-amp.

The way I see this, is that I get to enjoy the Wilson speakers both ways - so to speak. They are great, but different on tubes. They are great, but different with the ML SS amp.

In my opinion, (at least for the Duettes, but also based on my experience with Watt/Puppies) is that 100+ wpc with a good power supply is plenty with both tubes and SS. Many people want more power (and it doesn't hurt unless you drop in quality to get this power), but as Hamburg indicated above, I am in agreement that these speakers don't demand the same kind of power that other speakers do (large Thiele's for example).

FWIW the national sales manager for Wilson ran MA-1s on his Watt/Puppies for some years. As far as we've even been able to tell, Wilsons in general are an easy load for a tube amplifiers.

Free recco (and worth every penny:)
Pass X.5 or XA- similar design philosophy to Spectral
GamuT - very fleet-footed ss amps. I liked the sound with Maggies and AP Virgos ... I can't imagine them choking on Wilsons.
cheers apo

I just changed my AMP from the Levinson to Pass XA 160. The overall sound was richer with a larger soundstage. The individual background instruments became more noticeable and therefore three dimensional. The base is more defined. The Levinson throws the vocals dramatically out toward the listener and demands attention slightly at the expense of other less powerful notes. This is not to say the Levinson is not extremely detailed and well imaged. It is, but after listening to the Pass I notice more air around the notes. The vocals are fuller and expand all around you. Suttle background Cymbals float effortlessly. I highly recommend a try with Wilson 6 or 7 but not 5 because of difference in ohms.