Anyone used Nat p's with tubes?

[happy]

I am looking to get a new amp for my Natalie p's and was wondering if any of you had any comments on how they synergize with either a tube or tude hybrid amplifier? Have any of you tried this or have any ideas whether or not it would be a good/bad idea? Thanks

[ThomasW]

Depends on the amp. The NatP's are a real-world 4 ohm load, if your amp can drive that then you're good to go.

As for synergy = phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents

I'll leave comments about it to people who believe audio components have 'PRaT' and that ain't me, babe.....

[JonMarsh]

Look for an amp with a reasonably low output impedance. Low feedback designs work well with the NatP's, but solid state (like Ayre) is usually the best choice. With tubes, theres tubes, and there's tubes. Big difference between a SET, a small PP design with EL34's, and a Sonic Frontiers, BAT or Audio Research monoblocks.

Check out the Prima Luna Prologue Seven monoblocks in the December issues of Stereophile, $2695 for a pair 70 watts/channel, 4-KT88's in each amp (my favorite tube from my guitar playing days). Very high output impedance, which means a lot of frequency response interaction with loudspeaker impedance.

OTOH, once you get up into that price range, I'd really recommend either the baby Ayre integrated amp AX-7e, non feedback solid state, or saving up for an Ayre V5e power amp.