Amps for WP7

Sorry, I was going to recommend the Lamm 18watt single ended amp. Oh well. Sure sounded great with the WP7's at CES a couple years ago.

McIntosh MC402 (with C42 preamp). I also tried a Jeff Rowland Concentra II integrated but it was not a good pairing, the Mac gear was/is far better.

I've ran a BAT VK75SE will wonderful sound for several years. Just added a 2nd VK75SE, converted both to mono. WOW.

I have WP 6's.

What's the rest of your system? Matching is important....

...oops, I incorrectly said C42 preamp instead of C46.

I owned them for two years and put allot of gear with them.
Really depends on the sound you want out of them.

I have a fairly large room, best set-up combo that I had was McIntosh 501 mono blocks, Audio Research Ref3 pre and ARC Ref cd7.

I did try my ARC Ref300's but lacked in bass control.

Four or so years ago I went on a quest to determine the most suitable amplifier for the pair of WP7s that I had just purchased. One counter intuitive observation was that the power rating of the tube amplifiers in my survey often did not correlate well with the ability to get the linear, unrestrained sound that, for me makes WP7s so desirable. In particular, several very powerful amplifiers failed to deliver the tuneful, dynamically nuanced bass that matched the tonal and dynamic palette of the midrange. A few were also unable to deliver convincing treble extension, which was particularly evident with high percussion (triangles, cymbals, etc.). I arrived at three favorites at that time: Lamm ML1 (90 wpc), ARC Reference 400, and Music Reference RM-200. Of the three the ARC had the best bass, the Lamm had the most tactile midrange, but the MR was the most balanced with the most music. I was prepared to spend alot more money, but I really liked this combo.

Thanks for your responses. Anyone have experience with Pass XA160s with the WP7s?

Checkout this review: www.passlabs.com/reviews/pultun-XA-160-X600.
Also the Stereophile review of the XA-160 used the W.P. 7's as their reference.

1) For me, a tube amp will best suited for W&P 7 because its' sounded a lot more musical.
2) For a tube amp. you need a higher power rating amp to have a good & well control bass.
3) I am using a modified Manley Designers Reference Ichiban amp for my W&P 7. It has a triode mode of 260 Watts and a 520 Watts on pentrode mode. It also used a full set of Tung-sol 6550 tubes. I used it on a pentrode mode because of a far better control on bass, and a beautifully sound treble extension.
4) With this amp, my W&P 7 has a very balance, detail and a very dynamic bass & treble extension.