Sometime around 2005 I think I bought my first tube amp, an Audiomat Arpege. A couple of years later I had an opportunity to upgrade to the Audiomat Prelude Reference MKII. The Arpege was put to work providing occasional audio at my Windows desktop. Paired with small Spendor S3/5 speakers it makes for a magical mid-range. I’ve recently moved the Arpege into my TV system because I thought it would sound better than my treasured vintage Pioneer SX-1050 when listening to my many opera DVDs and I think it does! It seems a shame to waste tubes on TV programs, but I rarely watch TV these days and when I do I’ve found that the Arpege makes dialog sound very clear and listenable, so it’s been a good swap and I expect it will stay.
The Prelude seems to make a perfect mate for my Quad ESL-63 electrostatic speakers. I get what seems like really sincere and genuine compliments from serious audiophile acquaintances which makes me feel really good and reinforces my own feelings that it sounds pretty darn good. but I can’t help but want even better. I toyed with upgrading to the Audiomat Solfege or Opera but decided I just couldn’t spend the money. Besides I haven’t explored any other options. I’d love to hear from others who have.
