Are Their any Tube Preamp with Home Theater Bypass?


Does anyone have experience with a decent tube based preamp with a home theater bypass feature?

kota1

I was in the same boat a while back. I didn't want to be limited to only amps with HT bypass. I decided to try a selector from Amazon,(SOLUPEAK P2 2(1)-in-1(2)-Out Amp) which does a great job and allows me to choose which amp feeds the speakers. It's a simple device and I have noticed no loss in quality. No issues with the tube amp and Marantz AVR after a few years. I actually swap between tube and some vintage SS in that system because it's made it very easy. It's a simple device and you could always upgrade the wire inside if you wanted to. 

IF you are using the system as your main 2 channel music and alternately as the front for a Home Theater via AVR:

then tube preamp is more desirable, thus tube life will be increased, but I would not avoid tubes IF tube sound is desired for the 2 channel use.

as noted, small tubes last 10,000 hours, and they do not cost too much. Always have a spare set ready.

the model that allows HT Bypass input to be used while the tube preamp is OFF sounds ideal.

My BAT VK30SE has theater bypass, but I don't use it anymore.  Instead, I run my home theater front pre outs into the SE inputs on my Bryston 4B SST2, and run the 2 channel preamp into the balanced inputs.  When I want to do theater, I just flip the input switches to SE and when I listen to 2 channel, I flip it back.  That way the systems are isolated but I still get the benefit of the Bryston and Maggies in the HT setup.

The Cary Audio Design SLP-05 preamp has a perfect HT Bypass.  When switched to HT Bypass the incoming signal only travels through a couple relays and back out the jacks.  So no active circuitry in the signal path.  Just in one jack, through the relay and back out!  And it’s an outstanding sounding preamp. Especially if you get one with the Ultimate Upgrade.  Much more refined sound then the standard version and you can probably find a used one at a decent price.