Which preamp to pair with Moon W5 amplifier?

Bbybaudio, The W-5 is a very nice amp. It's one of my favorites as it is quite fast and provides even a somewhat sweet sound which is a bit unusual for a solid state amp.

In fact, I did not know what a fast amp was until I plugged the W-5 into my system.

If you agree that the W-5 already has a somewhat sweet sound, then I would put less consideration toward a tubed preamp and just focus on a good preamp regardless of it being a tube or solid state.

I cannot remember now which preamps I had when I owned the W-5 but a few that I think may really compliment it would be a Placette Active Linestage or a Pass Labs X2.5 or X-1.

As I recall, the only questionable deficiency with the W-5 was it's bass reproduction. For this reason alone, I would stay away from a tube preamp with the W-5.

-IMO

Bbybaudio, I purchased the W-5 when I still owned a BAT vk500 with BATPAK. The BAT had far superior bass control and definition with my Aerial 10T speakers with almost endless supply of power in comparison to the W-5.

But the W-5 was easily superior to the BAT in every other respect except the bass.

Basically what I thought I was hearing was a congested and/or compressed and ill-defined bass that simply got worse as the volume got louder. Low listening levels weren't too bad.

At the time, I was well aware of the write-ups on the W-5's bass from the mags which helped persuade me to make the purchase. But I just assumed the amp simply was not a good match for my speakers since they do demand a bit of power. I sold the W-5 for an amp that had the speed of the W-5 but it's bass was even better than the BAT.

Then a couple of years later I was on Sim Audio's web-site reading a review of the W-5 and the P-5 by Peter Moncrief of International Audio Review and although he too likes the W-5, he described the bass deficiencies that I too had experienced.

I am now on yet another amp with a bass reproduction that is simply out of this world IMO.

Still the W-5 is a wonderful amp in many ways. And I think for some to many listeners the W-5 would be quite an eye opener for the musical nuances that it reveals, speed of transient attack, and for it's overall sweet presentation.

-IMO