Glad you found such a nice match! Congratulations!
I think it has a lot to do with the output impedence of the preamp vs. the input impedence of the amp, and how it reacts at different frequencies to the load. Especially true with tube amps, and highly dependent on the type of output circuit used.
I've been a long-time believer in tube pre-amps with solid-state amplification, but more because it has worked well for me than because I understand the signal transfer characteristics of the interface. I would expect this to be optimized within the same brand as your experience supports. I've heard a couple of bad matches (an Audible Illusions preamp that was very picky about its amps), and some very good ones that were not same brand (CAT Ultimate with McIntosh MC402).
Perhaps the biggest opportunities are still the amp-to-speaker match on one hand, and the front-end-to-preamp match on the other. To me, the preamp is a necessary evil, which is why the pure transformer-based pre's are my current obsession.
But if it makes great music, that's all that matters. Again congrats on your discovery!
YMMV
I think it has a lot to do with the output impedence of the preamp vs. the input impedence of the amp, and how it reacts at different frequencies to the load. Especially true with tube amps, and highly dependent on the type of output circuit used.
I've been a long-time believer in tube pre-amps with solid-state amplification, but more because it has worked well for me than because I understand the signal transfer characteristics of the interface. I would expect this to be optimized within the same brand as your experience supports. I've heard a couple of bad matches (an Audible Illusions preamp that was very picky about its amps), and some very good ones that were not same brand (CAT Ultimate with McIntosh MC402).
Perhaps the biggest opportunities are still the amp-to-speaker match on one hand, and the front-end-to-preamp match on the other. To me, the preamp is a necessary evil, which is why the pure transformer-based pre's are my current obsession.
But if it makes great music, that's all that matters. Again congrats on your discovery!
YMMV