I made a mistake and recently sold my Shindo Auregie-L out of frustration while dealing with room issues. Long story short, I've got some treatments in place and a new amplifier (Decware Torii 3) and things are sounding good, but--I suspect my Shindo could bring more to the table.
I prioritize tonal beauty and emotion over absolute linearity and resolution. I also tend to be a sucker for texture, harmonic density and micro/macro dynamics.
I suspect I'd be best off waiting for a Shindo to come up used, but I am open to alternatives.
I have the Shindo Auriges with the phono stage. I have never heard a better pre. Be patient and keep looking for a used one or keep saving and get a new one. Sorry I can't recommend anything else
Bite the bullet and get the Shindo. It might take some additional time to save up for one but you will most likely be happier in the long run. I had to sacrifice a few things to trade up to buy the Vosne-Romanee preamp but I'm thrilled with the purchase and consider the Shindo the centerpiece of my system. Shindo just gives me a deeper emotional connection to the music. Throw in the incredible build quality and top tier resale value and it's pretty much a no-brainer given you enjoy the vintage Shindo tube sound.
I don't think I'll buy one new as I just sold mine last month and don't want to take the hit. I could rationalize spending 600 more and buying one with phono and selling my jasmine. Actually, I'd rather like that solution if one comes available.
Liz, I wish it were an option but I had my sights on a $3k "shindo killer" which was not. Unfortunately it's a bit expensive for me to keep stuff on hand and I generally rely on those funds to upgrade.
I sold an auregies l but wouldn't mind trying the two box if the situation presents itself.
An alternative for the kind of sound you are looking for would be the Joule LA-150MKII- not saying it is better than the Shindo, since I am not familiar with the Shindo, but it is certainly a very fine preamp in the rich tone/emotion school.
I am not an admirer of Shindo gear. So it comes as no surprise that I think there are many better preamp alternatives to Shindo. However, I will say that the Shindo preamps are stronger contenders for one's attention than the power amps, overall. There are very few truly worthwhile preamps in the $2k - $3k range, regardless who makes them but there are always exceptions to the prevailing mediocrity.
One that will satisfy your bias to "texture, harmonic density and micro/macro-dynamics" not far from your stated price range is the excellent Valvet L2. This is a 6sn7-based preamp, and the US importer can offer it with a variety of 6sn7 vintages, for a real range of choices in dialing in your sound.
The Valvet will give you excellent resolution, and a soundstage that scales appropriately, but it is fundamentally a conduit for musical emotion rather than being analytic. At $3600 new, and with its power supply recently upgraded, it's sonically valuable well beyond its price-peers. The more expensive still Valvet Soulshine, which is not 6sn7 based, can give you a bit more refinement at the expense of some of the 6sn7's vividness. If you go this route, you'll be keeping your Jasmine as the L2 is a line stage.
If you want a better preamp than any Shindo at Shindo prices, get an Audion.
I have heard all Shindo from the Auregies to the Vosne Romanee. I currently own the Vosne Romanee. You get more of what the Auregies does as you go up the line. I of course have not heard all preamps and that includes the Valvet mentioned above. I have though compared Shindo to previous preamps that I have owned Lamm LL1, Lamm L2, Hovland HP100, and Wytech Opal and IMHO the Shindo preamps are far better than any of these in musicality and detail. I would try and get one with a phono as I feel the internal phono stages are as good as most top end stand alone phonos.
Gopher I can't answer your question as to whether a 2-3K pre-amp with phono can touch your beloved Shindo but I can make a recommendation, the "Preamp Deal of the Century" Supratek Syrah used or Chenin new in this range. Full function with plenty of gain for MC. It uses 6SN7 tubes in the pre out, is dynamic, resolving and most importantly emminently musical, a trancendent product in this price range, IMHO. Whether it ultimately has the magic of the Shindo to your ears, only you can answer that. The question and cavaet is whether Mick Maloney is still making these handmade gems. I believe he took a brief haitus from building but you really might want to investigate further and check out the thread if you haven't for user opinions and further info on availability. I purchased mine new in 2003 and I am still in love. Better out there, yes I'm sure, however that might be described, a bit more resolution would be my thinking but I can't imagine what the price would be and I doubt more musically involving in this price range, great bass, extended highs and a lovely midrange. If you can possibly hear one from someone near you, it might be worthwhile for you to investigate a bit further, I have a strong suspicion the Supratek would "touch" the Auregies-L for sure.
You are likely to get a lot more relevant responses to the Primaluna amplifier question in a new thread, the subject line would not lead people to you, especially Primaluna amplifier owners.
I have heard the torii 3 and it is quite and outstanding amp, what is it that you don't like soundwise with the Torii? Are you simply looking for a seperate preamp? The Supratek is also a great suggestion.
There is nothing I don't like about the Torii--Its an ass kicking amp. Staging (width and depth) could be improved upon, but much of the problem is my room.
Honestly, I've got a very good core sound, but am pursuing just an extra smidgeon of emotion and refinement.
This amp has a lot of tubes to roll .Have you tried this to fine tune the Torii more to suit your room? This seems like the first step before to trying a Pre.
Gopher- check out the Mastersound EL34 integrated amp. It's really, really good for the money. Since it's PSET, probably gets you the soundstage you are looking for.
I'm not interested in changing amps right now. The Torii is excellent and exactly my taste, I just suspect, like most power amps, it can be improved with an excellent preamplifier.
Mystang,
Yessir, I'm no newbie to tubes. I didn't even want to consider pres until I had gotten my core sound down. http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1309716798
I'm using Black treasure 6ca7s, RCA 5u4gs, National 7308s and have some NOS OA3s on the way.
The amp is excellent, it was just a more affordable upgrade than planned and my OCD side wants to take it to the next level.
Welp. I played with the auregies l on my torii in a friends rig today and we both seemed to prefer it without the shindo... At least on his gear.
Comparing my torii solo to his tubeguru.hu f2a push pulls, I felt the tg/shindo offered a bit more body and refinement. The torii had more transparency and I think with some tweaking of the bass knob it could have closed the gap.
The big difference in presentation was staging, more specifically soundstage width. My torii did fall behind there but I suspect the right pre could put it in the lead.
BTW: the Valvet soulshine is now available as a 6sn7 version which uses two pairs of 6sn7. It's brand new and I already have the first unit here, it's called soulshine8 and cost $5990.
Gopher, I realize this thread is a bit old, but am curious how the Aurieges/Torii combo worked out. I have the same Shindo and need a bit more power than my present EL84 system has to offer and so was looking at the Torii. The option to sell off the Shindo to fund the Torii crossed my mind, but the first few posts in this thread seemed to advise against.
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