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Best Preamp for Hovland Sapphire Amp and Quads

I have a Hovland Sapphire EL34 tube amp and Quad ESL 63 speakers. Presently, my source is a Pass Labs DAC1, which has a SS preamp built in. The sound is excellent to my ears, but I have wondered about adding a tube preamp to the system, to take it to another level. I also would like to have a remote control for the volume. Don't need phono stage at this point in time. I know that Hovland makes a couple of good preamps, but they are so darn expensive.....thoughts and suggestions for cheaper options, preferably under $2,000 used, would be appreciated. Conrad Johnson? Sonic Frontiers?Thx.
halbrian

Showing 1 response by peter_s

peter_s
1,320 posts
 
The Quads benefit from the most dynamic equipment available, as they are not so dynamic by nature, it helps atleast to get the upper hand on dynamism upstream. I found that the CAT preamps are very dynamic. I had the Ultimate v1, which was very nice (even though CAT was not that much fun to deal with directly). They have older models that might fit your budget. In any case, my recommendation is "look for a dynamic preamp".

Best, Peter
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