Cary SLP 98 vs Benchmark LA4


Looking to replace my preamp. I used a Parasound PLD 2000 for 20 years or more and have no complaints. It lost the right channel and the culprit seems to be the balance pot. I have searched high and low and cannot find one. Parasound dealers have been no help. Most won't even answer. I have tried half a dozen different preamps from the used market and not been delighted with any of them. Nakamichi, other Parasound units, Forte, an Audio Valve (which got damaged in shipping and ended up going back). I really wanted to hear that last one.

Anyway, I drive two Parasound HCA 2200 II amps into Teledyne AR9 speakers, biamped. I have a Cary PH 301 phono pre. I listen to vinyl much more than I do CD's probably 80% of the time. I do not stream any music. I know it's all "old school" but I am mostly very pleased with what I hear.  Does anyone have any thoughts on these two preamps? I think the Cary is made to drive more than one amplifier. No idea on the Benchmark or whether one of these suits my needs more than the other. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks,

Bill

billpete

I have the Benchmark HPA4 (same as the LA4) and love it. However, I want to also get a tube preamp, and I have narrowed it down to the Raven Revelation. There seems to be a lot of good pedigree in this unit.

Raven Preamplifier — Spatial Audio Lab

push two amplifiers and offers both XLR and RCA connections.

I need this feature set too.

yyz

I read up on it and it does sound interesting. There was a nice long discussion about it here. It is a bit above what I had hoped to spend but I'm not ruling anything out just yet. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah, John Siau is one of the true genius designers in the industry and can back up his claims with facts, not voodoo.