Audio Experience tube preamp

Last April, I bought an Audio Experience Symphonies pre-amp. It sounds so much better than my C-J Sonographe SC-26 it is difficult to express. Delivered from Hong Kong for $377!!!

Everyone who has seen it has been impressed with the build quality, fit and finish. Everyone who has heard it has been impressed with the clarity and imaging. Best deal in stereo today? Maybe.

I too have an Audio Experience Symphonies pre that I bought right here on Audiogon for $250 or so used. I am using it in my bedroom system with Bottlehead Paramour amps and Hornshoppe horns.

I bought it because I had bungled my attempt to build a Bottlehead Foreplay. I'm very very happy with the sound- so much so that I have put my foreplay repair on a back burner for the foreseeable future. The system (with a fairly cheap Sony sacd source) sounds beautiful and natural. I listen mostly to jazz and other "soft" music with this system.

I will say that after hearing it in my bedroom system, I hooked it up to my main system in place of the Adcom GFP 750 that I use there (along with a Heart CD6000 with seimens NOS tubes, a mcintosh 2205, and paradigm ref 40 and ps-1000 speakers/sub) and did not feel that it was an improvement to this system which is mostly used to rock (eg Tool, Pearl Jam and the like).

My systems are lower-end than those belonging to most posters here, so take my remarks with a grain of salt, but IMO you can't go wrong with this item, especially for the used price.

These products seem really intriguing, especially for the price. Glad to hear that so many of you have positive experiences to report.

One reason I've stayed away from them is their high output impedance -- 2,000 ohm! That would seem to make these preamps very difficult to mate with certain amplifiers.
Anyone have any problems in that area?

yes I have to sell mine because it just doesn't mate up with my SS amp. It sounds wonderful but it makes my system have hum and hiss that I didn't have with my Conrad Johnson PV4.

I myself own the Audio Experience MK3 tube preamp. I run it into my MCS 3125 stereo receiver (the top of the line receiver built for JC Penny's private lable, which sports a triple darlington, triple differential SEPP OCL output stage capable of "over 200 watts per channel" according to the manual, the specifications still rival some of the top gear of today), I didnt want to lose the power of the solid state design but wanted the sound of vacuum tubes so I bought the MK3. Comparatively speaking the MCS 3125 sounded great to begin with, clear, powerful dynamic. I hooked the MK3 up to the MCS 3125 when it arrived and was quite surprised by the sound, it sounded great and detailed, I spent several hours listening to some of my favorite stuff it never disappointed. Out of mere curiosity I ordered a bunch of NOS 5Y3 tubes (these are readily available and relatively cheap) as well as a set of NOS 12AX7s. I tested a vintage Raytheon, Arcturus, and then a Philco as the 5Y3s. Tossing in the Philco was an experience I will never forget, the sound quality difference was tremendous, louder more dynamic bass was deep solid, treble was clean crisp and smooth, quite surprising. It sounded far superior to the Sovtek that is included. The Raytheon actually sounded worse than the Sovtek, the Arcturus was only slightly less good than the Philco, I have a NOS GE and RCA as well but the Philco sounded so good I never tried them. The 12AX7s I got were a set of late 50s GEs, I removed the EIs and popped these in, they sounded slightly different but not substantially different just a tad bit better (smoother bass) but nothing to write home about. I think the 5Y3 is quite important to this preamp, and I wouldnt hesitate to suggest trying a different 5Y3 in it, I think one will be quite surprised with just how much different it makes the sound. Last night I finished fixing up a Masco tube amplifier I got at the flea market, which used 4 7C7s, a 7N7, a 5U4 rectifier, and 2 6L6 outputs, and put it up to the test in comparison, it was more fluid than the solid state MCS 3125 with the MK3 but not that much different. This unit is a tremendous value for the money and the build quality is exceptional for the price. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend it.
My system is as follows-
MCS 3125 receiver
Marantz SD6000 cassette
Garrard turntable
SMC 330s DVD/CD player
Audio Experience MK3 preamp
AR 226PS speakers
Linaeum tweeters
AR S112PS subwoofer