If you like tube-rush noises, microphonics, high maintenance, & an overheated house in warm weather then get some tubes.
I've been through this & the only tube preamp quiet enough was the Golden Tube SEP-2 or SEP-3. Of course I didn't try a whole lot of tube equipment (admittedly prejudiced here) so you might find something else that works if you really try (the Sonic Frontiers Power One didn't cut it for a PA).
Regarding solid state: I've tried more of those amps. Best results were with mosfet output amps, although a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe did pretty nicely in the bipolar dept. The plain-jane DNA-1 was OK as well, but the Deluxe for a few more $ is much better.
In Mosfet: good results also achieved with Ayre V3 & Perreaux 350. The best yet is Accuphase P-450 which is presently in the system driven by an Accuphase C275 pre.
Belles & Conrad Johnson were both no-go.
Krell KAV250A was OK but the rig wasn't optimized for it, so that wasn't a fair audition (at the time I knew too little about tweaks, cables, etc.).
I tried Classe CA150 as well, but again it wasn't really a fair audition so that could really be good although I didn't know it (the dealer wanted his demo back the very next day so I never heard it actually warmed up, & also repeat the above "not optimized" statement).
Synergy is a critical issue with these speakers & if you're pumping any noise into them they'll absolutely let you know about that. In other words, a clean, quiet signal is imperative due to the highly revealing nature of horns. The synergy issue includes your cabling & tweaks. I've had good results with MIT networked speaker cable. I think that's due to the parallel networks acting as absorbing Zoebel networks across the speakers, which do emit a fair amout of reflected energy back upline / needing somewhere to go beside backing up into the amp.
I've been through this & the only tube preamp quiet enough was the Golden Tube SEP-2 or SEP-3. Of course I didn't try a whole lot of tube equipment (admittedly prejudiced here) so you might find something else that works if you really try (the Sonic Frontiers Power One didn't cut it for a PA).
Regarding solid state: I've tried more of those amps. Best results were with mosfet output amps, although a McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe did pretty nicely in the bipolar dept. The plain-jane DNA-1 was OK as well, but the Deluxe for a few more $ is much better.
In Mosfet: good results also achieved with Ayre V3 & Perreaux 350. The best yet is Accuphase P-450 which is presently in the system driven by an Accuphase C275 pre.
Belles & Conrad Johnson were both no-go.
Krell KAV250A was OK but the rig wasn't optimized for it, so that wasn't a fair audition (at the time I knew too little about tweaks, cables, etc.).
I tried Classe CA150 as well, but again it wasn't really a fair audition so that could really be good although I didn't know it (the dealer wanted his demo back the very next day so I never heard it actually warmed up, & also repeat the above "not optimized" statement).
Synergy is a critical issue with these speakers & if you're pumping any noise into them they'll absolutely let you know about that. In other words, a clean, quiet signal is imperative due to the highly revealing nature of horns. The synergy issue includes your cabling & tweaks. I've had good results with MIT networked speaker cable. I think that's due to the parallel networks acting as absorbing Zoebel networks across the speakers, which do emit a fair amout of reflected energy back upline / needing somewhere to go beside backing up into the amp.