best tube preamp under a 1000 for B&K 200 sonatas?

I would also reccomend the mapleshade, space tech, or beleive it or not a fisher 400c if mechancial condition could be verified.

However for just over 1k i would strongly consider trying to get hold of a joule electra la100

Zd542, Mr. Richard Brown passed away in 2009. one Sal Zambrano of Audio Summa manufactures some of the BEL cables and offers repair for the 1001. I have not contacted him so know little else. I have read many of your comment over many threads and have appreciated your input. I have only followed this forum over the last couple months. very enjoyable and educational. Thanks.

Mesch,

Not to get off topic, but I haven't thought about BEL for a long time until I saw your post. Are they still in business? I almost bought a pair of 1001's myself. They were one of the best solid state amps I've ever heard.

I could be mistaken, but I seem to remember that the B&K M200's having a fair low input impedance of 22K(?) Ohms.

you're very close - the published spec is 24.3 Kohms

Hello,
I see a TAD 150 Signature posted on Agon. I owned one 4 years ago. A very nice sounding tube preamp for its price point. Has no short comings really - just sounds right. Has remote, only uses (2) tubes so tube rolling is not too costly. It has a phono section but to be honest it's not that good. The value here is in the line stage.
If you could get it for $775 I'd jump on it.

I'd be careful - that TAD 150 isn't a signature (near as I can tell based on the pictures). So $775 may not be a "jump on it" value. That said, I have a TAD 150 sig that I have used with my B&K M200's and it worked great. I have been driving my M200's for the past 3+ years though with a Musical Fidelity Nuvista preamp. The Nuvista isn't a traditional tube amp - it uses miniature "Nuvistors" which are more tube than they are transistor, but they look like a transistor. It's a great preamp and it's a great combination. They can be found used from time to time for ~$1000 but since there were only 500 made they aren't common.

+1 Quicksilver, < 300 ohms output
Audible Illusions line1, 2 ~1600 ohms output
Jolida Fusion has both RCA and balanced outs, if one comes up used,

I am driving a BEL 1001 MK5 having 22K ohms input with Aubilbe Illsions 3a with no problem, 2M interconnects.

Unsound, yes they do have the balances inputz.

I could be mistaken, but I seem to remember that the B&K M200's having a fair low input impedance of 22K(?) Ohms. I had a friend use a Sonic Frontiers Line 3 with 4 factory matched B&K M200's with balanced inputs with great success some years ago. But I doubt you'll find that pre for a grand or less. Do your B&K M200's have balanced inputs?

Hello,
I see a TAD 150 Signature posted on Agon. I owned one 4 years ago. A very nice sounding tube preamp for its price point. Has no short comings really - just sounds right. Has remote, only uses (2) tubes so tube rolling is not too costly. It has a phono section but to be honest it's not that good. The value here is in the line stage.
If you could get it for $775 I'd jump on it.

I also see a Mapletree preamp posted. Have not heard one though. I've read they sound great but they are not much to look at. That could be a great bang for the buck so to speak.

Good luck!!!!

A nice used Quicksilver Line Stage would probably fill the bill nicely.

You want the output impedance of a pre to be at least 10x less than the input umpedance of your amp, across the audible frequency band. To be safe, and since we often don't have measurements available across the spectrum, 20x is often recommended.

Can you explain a quickly about the output impedance of the preamp? What should I stay away from? I have seen a few Carys on here in my price range.,also what about eastern electric min max?

Be mindful of the output impedance of the pre.

Its a hard price point even for something used. If you can find an old Sonic Frontiers SFL-1, that would be my first choice. Its one of the few low cost preamps that actually sound very good. Quicksilver is another good choice.