Dear Rickk, Congratulations on being ofered the Hovland at a good price. Sometimes in audio, you stumble across a great deal on a product that can elevate your whole system. I have heard the Hovland at length, and it is the best preamp I have ever heard, and I have heard and (used to sell) the top $$ Class A contenders. I heard it with the matching Hovland el34 amp, and some Verity Audio speakers. As you know, the preamp is also a beautiful work of art, built to the highest standards. I assume you are getting one with the phono stage, which is supposed to be superb. I would not worry about the volume control,it is the nicest feeling one I have used, built with a discrete resistor ladder of the utmost quality, therefore the signal is attenuated by a single resistor in the control, and there is no volume pot to get dirty and wear out.
I have an Alexandria as well, and I think you are on the right track witht he ProAcs. which are excellent. I suppose a synergistic match for the
pre and speakers would be an Audio Reasearch 100 or 60 series amp, which I have heard drive ProAC speakers beautifully. To me however, this would be an horrible design choice, as I find the AR gear industrial, plain and unattractive.
I personally would maybe look for a used Mac 2102 Tube amp (around $3800), the most beautiful amp ever built IMHO, and woud be a great match in every way. The VTL suggestion is also excellent, I am just not into monoblocks. I think the Hovland is single ended only? although I am not sure, which basically rules out BAT, and AR, Conrad Johnson is an option, albeit pricey. The Rogue monos are the best deal in powerful, domestic tube amps going, though not built to the Hovland's muster. a mono pair of used Cary Rocket 88's would be around $2500. As is the Cary V12 used. Probably the best sounding, powerful amp you can buy are the new Coincident parallel single ended 300B Monoblocks. These are in a whole different league than push pull pentode tube sound, and would work with ProAcs.
