Bent Audio Autoformer vs Tube Pre

I went for BOTH! I built a 26 DHT tube preamp using the Bent Audio autoformers in double duty as both the output "transformers" and volume controls. Sounds incredible! Kills my Supratek in transparency, detail and immediacy.

26 Preamp

26 Preamp Internal

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Neither was I until I worked at it. It just takes time, patience, lots of research, and some money to get good parts. Oh...and a patient wife...

The Bent Autoformer VC is excellent. Sixty-one 1dB steps, from -54dB to +7dB, all done via instrumentation-quality reed relays rated for billions of operations. The power they consume is used solely for the relay switching circuit. I love them in my preamp. You even get a balance control since each channel has it's own autoformer unit. The cool thing is that with a little surgery, you can restack the nickel laminations to get various amounts of primary inductance - stock they are stacked 3X3 for ~155H. That works fine with my preamp since I'm using the low Z mu-output of the plate CCS, but they can be restacked to 1X1 for ~190H if you like, or 6X6 for ~100H, etc.

They make having a remote control no detriment to the sonics, and there's nothing more ideal than adjusting the volume and balance from the comfort of your listening chair, from where you'll be...listening.