BAT, ARC or Ayre for my Genesis 500's?

Hi,
have driven my Gen500/501 fist with a German Amplifier (solid state) named Audionet Amp1. Later I switched to Vincent´s mono amplifier 991plus (class a). Both amps matched good to the Genesis. There was no bass gap at all. Very powerful, deep and substantial bass. Also nice midrange and clear hights. Never tryed a tube amp.
Actually I need to find somebody who can fix the loudspeakers amp. Every tip is welcome.
Kind regards,
Andreas, Germany

Well after a lot of pondering I decided to go with an all-BAT tube system: VK55SE monoblocks and VK32SE preamp. Victor of BAT and Gary (?) of Genesis were consulted and felt these amps would be a good match with my 500's. I have placed my order with Anthony Perrotta and hope to receive the amps within the next couple of weeks. Impressions to follow!

They say that since the bass amp relieves the main amp of those duties that selecting an amp is easier. I found the opposite with my 350's and needed a strong amp just to keep up to the bass without a "hole" in the midbass. A Plinius SA-100 served well. The 500 is even tougher, with a fairly low impedance dip.

For tubes, consider VTL MB300/450's or Manley Neo's. Used to do a lot of shows together.

Just read a recent Stereophile article on the lack of retail high end dealers anymore. I am lucky in the DC area to have several high end shops still in existence. However, I am limited to what they carry (which is good stuff, but still...) and can't audition some of the speakers I would be interested in hearing, especially with the amp I would be interested in buying. Gone are the days when you could listen to and buy a whole system right in the neighborhood! I guess the internet has opened up so many new possibilities that no one dealer, even in a very populated area, can serve everyone. I will probably just have to go with my gut and hope that if I am dissatisfied, I can sell the gear here and move on. I would like to buy new stuff every 10 years or so, but I am also curious about brands that my local dealers do not and will never carry. So I end up buying used gear here and bypassing my (perhaps struggling) local dealers. I have local dealers for both Ayre and Audio Research, but not for BAT or Dali. Also, the Thiel dealer does not have ARC, so I can't hear them together. The ARC dealer only carries speakers I don't like. The Thiel and Vienna Acoustics dealer does not carry tube gear. So no matter what I do, buying new will involve some guesswork, something I would prefer not to have to do when spending up to $20,000 someplace.

Driver--yes that's the V-3 amp I used with my Beethovens! I still haven't forgotten how good that combo sounded. I have since owned the AX-7e integrated but ended up preferring the ARC tubes with my ProAc's (living room system). I will have to find a way to audition a BAT tube amp with my Genesis 500's, since that's the only amp I haven't actually ever heard in either of my systems. I have no local BAT dealer though. Might have to travel up to Philly or NJ to audition I guess, and that won't be with Genesis speakers.

Hello Sc53,

I most definitely would recommend checking out a BAT tube amp. The instrumental texture/timbre will have you listening all day long. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

best,
Tom

Was this the same Ayre V-3 I bought from you back in 2001? If you stick with Ayre, I would say go with the V-1xe. I upgraded from the V-3 to the V-5x then the V-1xe. They have the newer series but haven't heard them outside of CES.

I've heard (and owned) a variety of BAT gear but not their tube amps. I've always liked the BAT sound.