Pre Amp or Amp Best Money Spent

I think the better preamp is more important, as Narrod said "In general, the preamp will have more effect on sound than the the amp (as long as the speakers have enough power)." So yes the amp/speaker interface is absolutely critical and must be accounted for - the amp must have enough power to drive the speaker, but that should be easily accomplished. Finding a great preamplifer is more difficult. Sure a great preamp and an underpowered, underdamped amp (for 2CEs) won't be so great, but finding a competent amplifier with enough power should not prove too challenging. For Vandersteen 2Ces within a relatively modest price range, I would go with a McCormack 100 watt SS and a tube preamp, maybe an Audible Illusions 3A or the higher end Rogue, or the lower priced Modwright - all three of which should be available used on Audiogon, or of course, can be purchased new. While VS can sound great with tubes, you need a pretty hefty tube amp as the VS are not the friendliest tube impedance loads. It will sound a lot better than an NAD entry level intgrated.

12-04-07: Pubul57
...the amp/speaker interface is absolutely critical and must be accounted for - the amp must have enough power to drive the speaker, but that should be easily accomplished.

Simply having enough power is not enough to properly match amp to speakers.
This article does a good job of explaining all that's involved in amp/speaker match. It's theme is primarily tube friendly speakers, but the concepts can be applied more broadly.

Those who take a simplistic approach of matching an amp to speakers based solely on having enough power are in for a rough ride. I've been on that road before.

Pubul57, I guarantee you the Ars Sonum/Merlin match is based on more than the Ars having enough power. I've listened to Merlin speakers sounding like crap driven with very powerful tube and solid state amps...more power than the speakers would ever require. On the other hand, I've heard the Merlins driven by significantly less powerful amps and sounding quite good.

Tvad, I agree with you and the point made in the article (a good informative read); it is not as simple as power (maybe the difference between horsepower (watts) and torque - current) - I am aware of the other factors, especially with tubes. But I still think it will be easier to find a good amp to drive the 2Ces without having to spend "a lot" on amplification, especially with SS, which I think generally work best with the Vandersteens. In other words, I think you could find a satisfactory pre/amp combo that will work well with VS with more budget going to the preamplifier. Frankly, I would just ask Richard - boy does he shoot straight, sometimes you have to duck. I also agree with you about the Merlins.

Kumba-ya, Pubul57...

As mentioned in my previous post, I think you may be spending money disproportionately. The pre-Signature Vandersteen speakers are quite dated sounding compared with the newer versions. The Signatures and MkII's are much more open, alive in the highs, and transparent by comparison. I think you are going to always be limited by the older speakers to some extent.

That said, the Rogue amps sound nice with Vandersteen speakers. I can't comment on the others because I have no direct listening experience with those combinations.