Plinius Amps mated with Merlin VSM-Ms?

Hi Berony, I did speak with Bobby recently about some SS options and he did mention the Ayre, the autoformer versions of McIntosh, and the BEL 1001. One of the nice things about that Joule preamp is that it is perfectly happy driving the typically lower input impedances of SS, I think his OTLs are 20Kohms themselves. I agree with you regarding the Ars Sonum integrated, I suspect that 90% of the time it is all you need when paired with the Merlins.

Funny reading this cause he mentioned Ayre to me today, as a solid state option along with Mcintosh with a autoformer. Im just too undescisive right now. I have this old b and k 150 watt amp into a awesome joule pre. The joule just replaced the b and k pre but more importantly upgraded the sound quality immensely. I could never listen to that b and k pre again with merlins. Its only two speakers but they sound like more then that now, Once I get a good deal on a pair of atma's or maybe even blue cirlces , i will prob be in audiphile heaven. But right now its still the best Ive heard, except for Bobbys new integrated he had at the NYC show, that lil amp blew me away, I visited several more audio rooms and found myself running back to hear how nice that simple setup was.

My mistake. Bobby has not mentioned the Ayres. Sorry.

Did Bobby say the Ayre's are good?

The satndard recommedations are Ayre, Plinius, and Belles. The 150A Reference is the one that would interest me.

Unless you already own the Plinius amp, Bobby does recommend the Belles 150A Hot Rod or the Belles 150A Reference amp. Both considerably less expensive than the 102 (let alone the VZN 100's !).

David

Tons of people have used that combo(myself included). I had the SA100 Mk2 and upgraded to the Mk3...very nice. The only problem with that amp are the BP's. They're 50mm which are bigger than normal and require a larger spade connection. Your sound quality will probably take a hit, but ya gotta do, what ya gotta do.