Sorry for the delay. Yes I tried the G. with a lot of pre-amps , amps and integrated amps. Preamps: Counterpoint SA 3000(good),Ear 834L(very good),Gryphon Prelude(good-very good)Hovland HP 100(bad).Integrated amps: BAT VK 300x(bad) Unison research S2(good-very good). Amps: Electrocompaniet 100 MB (my favourite for 10 years),Ampzilla mono blocks(good),Audio research(cannot remember which model, very old,(good),Gryphon Encore(good-very good with Atmasphere MP1),
and some other stuff that I cannot remember at the moment. In my opinion tubes are the way to go,and on the Guarnieris they are a MUST. I have never tried any CAT product. They are tubed, but not every tubed amp is a good combination(BAT for example). If you alredy have a CAT preamp yust try the amp and let us know. I bet it would sound better then a SS amp.
For me, the hunting for a Pre-power combination has ended with the Atmasphere MP-1 MA-1. P.S. Try Nordost Valhalla interconnect and speaker cables too.
Brgds,
Igor

igor01 November 07, 2006 12:14

As you may guess I'm driving the Guarneris with the MP-1 preamplifire and the MP-1 MK2 power amplifires from Atmasphere.
You can try them with the S-30 which is a stereo amp with "yust" 30 watts, that are enought to drive the speakers at "normal" levels mantaining the Atmasphere family sound.I have had this little gem for six months in my sistem, then found a used pair of MA-1 which I simply MUST have. With Atmasphere amps the Guarneris yust sing, all the positive attributes that they alredy have are moved to a next(ultimate?) level. The micro and macro dinamics are things that you must experience, the music is yust transformed in a live session with the musicians on stage. Records are assuming the REAL message that the artist want us to hear from them. I can go in a very long message, inventing new words and so on and so on. Please yust try any amp of Atmasphere and let me know what are your feelings.

Igor

igor01 October 20, 2006 09:57

Great system, as an owner of SF Guarneri I can't say anything but good about your components. I would suggest you to try the Atmasphere amps MA-60 or better yet the MA-1 with the Guarneri loudspeakers as they sound fabulous with them.I have tried recently the Gryphon Encore with the Guarneris and was not bad at all, but the OTL Atmasphere amps are from another planet in comparison with EVERY solid state amps I have heard to date. Brgds,
Igor

igor01 October 18, 2006 10:26