Proac and Golden Tube SE-40

hi tee, proac sez use the ar 100.2 amp & either the ar ls-16 or ls-25 preamps... mite wanna try it. my relative yust made this switch & is in *heaven*. i haven't heard it yet, but i did hear his system sound great w/alchemist gear before he made the switch. hard to imagine it sounding better than it already *did*! ;~) doug

tee557, I havn't heard the SE-40 with the ProAc's, but I'm using ProAc 2.5's currently with a Cary SlA 70B Signature that puts out 60W per side. The one nice thing about the ProAcs is that the have a relatively benign impedance vs. frequency curve. That's why relatively low powered amps can still drive them. However, in my experience 60W is right on the edge of not being enough power to fill my room (16x23x10) on dynamic passages. Granted, I'm comparing this to the dynamics I get with my 200W solid-state Bryston 4BST. The bass responce from the tube amp is also a little flabby compared to the Bryston, but it's also nice and tunefull, a trade off I can make on certain types of chamber music and Jazz. The reason for this flabbyness with the ProAc's and tube amps is also due to the fact that the output impedance (sometimes around 2 ohms!)of tube amps is much higher than that of solid-state amps. The impedance curve of the speaker becomes a filter that modifies the frequency responce of the tube amp. Also, tube amps are more of a Voltage source than a current source. ProAc's need current and lots of it to make the bass sound tight and powerful. So if bass is your main concern, going to a low powered tube amp like the SE-40 might not help you out.

Tee557, Can't speak about the GT/Proac combo but I have two SE40 (not SE) as monoblocks attached to a pair of 802N. I have modified my SE40's to accept the Svetlana 6L6GC from the tubestore (3 Sets of Matched Quads). Also I tracked down 4 vintage JAN Sylvania 6SN7 VT-231's. The difference in the amps was not subtle. But it is still a tube amp sound. The bass is not as good as a SS Amp and the highs don't have a that last bit of air as I would like, but I would say it is 90% of the way there - very listenable. The N802 are not an easy load for tube amps, and the SE40 does not have a 4-ohm tap. I am not sure what the Proacs impedance curve looks like. I am in rebuilding stage of my system, but for now the SE40 are still in the system. Hope this helps and don't forget to have fun. Cheers – Dan