Well unfortunately the two preamps mentioned above are well out of your stated price range ($1500-$2000). I doubt you can get a ARC Ref 3 or a McIntosh C500 for under $5000 used. So let's try some more, in no particular order.
Cary SLP-2002, balanced and unbalanced outputs, remote control, Cinema Bypass switch, NO phono.
Audio Research LS-16 (I or II), balanced and unbalanced outputs, remote, Direct input is unity gain and was designed to be used as a SSP throughput, NO phono.
VAC Standard/LE/MK II, unbalanced outputs standard, balanced outputs optional, remote, Cinema bypass, MM & MC phonos stage optional.
BAT VK-3, 3i, 3iX, VK-5, 5i, VK-30, VK-30SE, VK-31, balanced and unbalanced outputs, remote, any input can be set to unity gain for Cinema, optional VK-P3 phono card.
That's all I can think of at the moment. I think all should be availible in your price range. Happy hunting.
Cheers,
John
BTW, AFAIK, CJ has no offerings with balanced outputs. |
Hi Bob- yes it has been quite a while. I hope you and yours are enjoying a great holiday season, and let me wish you a happy and healthy new year.
I fully agree with your main point, there is no substitute for listening with your own ears, to your own system, in your own room, and preamps are probably the most difficult item to choose due to so many variables. The way I did this was what I refer to as the AudiogoN buy n' try method (patent pending). I'd buy a VAC Renaissance mk II preamp while I still had a CJ Premier LS16 mk II and a Krell KRC-HR on hand. Swap them in and out for a couple of weeks, and sell the 'loser' on AudiogoN and try another preamp. At one point I tried 8 preamps in a 9 month timeframe.
Pros: I got the preamp that worked best with my system to my tastes (ARC Ref 3).
You can listen to others reco's as much as you want, but their system/room may be warmer or leaner than yours, and their musical tastes may vary too.....which makes this a crapshoot.
Cons: Yes, it does tie up more money for a while, as you will constantly have 2 or more preamps in your room for a period of time.
Buying used certainly helps ease this pain a bit, and I found out, 9 months later, that I had the preamp I wanted, and only lost about $175 over the 9 month period trying 8 different preamps in my system (including ads and shipping). I felt that investing $175 to try all of these great preamps in my system head on with their competitors was money well spent. I wasted too many years listening to others opinions (reviewers, on-line, friends, etc.) I know they meant well, but they don't have my ears, room, equipment and cables, so they can't really tell me what I will like best.
Cheers,
John
BTW, one more to add to your list would also be the VTL TL-5.5. Unbalanced and balanced outputs, remote, processor loop for home theater, and optional internal phono stage. |
Cris, the general rule of thumb is that the amps input impedence should be at least 10X's the preamps output impedence. The greater the better (ie: 20X's is better than 10X's). Your amp's input impedence is 44K, which is pretty good. Most tube preamps have a output impedence of 1K or lower, so you should be at least 44X's.
You shouldn't have a mismatch problem, but if you had a power amp with a 10K input impedence, a preamp with a output impedence of 1.2K may sound a bit soft in the bass and/or rolled of in the high's. Happy hunting.
Cheers,
John |
Bob, I didn't mention CJ because the OP said balanced AND unbalanced outputs were a requirement. AFAIK, CJ products are all single ended. Does the CT-6 have balanced outputs?
Happy New Year!!
John |
Hello Rleff, to be honest, I've never heard the LS16 mk II. I have heard the LS16 mk I in my friends system with Krell amp and Dynaudio Contour 3.4 speakers and was pretty impressed. Overall though, I was not much of a fan of the older ARC preamps before the ARC Ref 3, which is still the best preamp I have ever owned. Yes, I know it cost a lot more, but IMHO ARC made a big jump with that series. Personally, with the older tube preamps, I prefer the VAC, BAT and Cary, though not necessarily in that order.
As for the 6H30 tube, it is very rugged and reliable, but there is not much to do in the way of tube rolling. This may be a good thing for someone just changing over from SS preamps though, as tube rolling can be time consuming and expensive. Yes, they do make what are called NOS 6H30 tubes, from the 80's and 90's, but IMHO the difference is not worth some of the ridiculous prices that I've seen being charged for them ($200-$300/tube). I've seen 6DJ8 variant's, 12AX7's and 12AU7's also selling for crazy prices, but IME I've heard more differences between these NOS tubes and current stock than I have between NOS 6H30's and current stock.
As a general rule (of course there are exceptions), I would say the 6H30 is rugged, reliable, powerful and dynamic. The old scholl preamp tubes (6DJ8, 12AX7, 12AU7) tend to have less of the above traits, but have better air, resolution and articulation, again IMHO, IMS.
Cheers,
John |
Rleff, I can't say that I am familiar with your amp, but looking it up online, it uses (2) 12AU7's and (1) 12AX7. I assume that the 12AU7's are in the driver stage, the single 12AX7 may be a phase splitter. I'm not sure here, I know my amp uses (4) KT88 power tubes and (4) 12AU7's in the driver stage. IME, rolling the preamp tubes makes the biggest difference in sound (assuming 6DJ8/12AU7/12AX7). Rolling power tubes, driver tubes, and 6H30 preamp tubes can make a difference, but it is not nearly as big a difference as I hear between Amperex/ Mullard/ Siemens/ Telefunkens etc in the 6DJ8/12AU7/12AX7 categories.
Once more, that is just my opinion, from what I have heard in my system and a couple others. I would think you would hear the most difference rolling between types of power tubes in your amp, since it can handle KT 88, EL 34, or 6550. It should be fun to compare some nice KT88's with some good EL 34's.
Cheers,
John |
Rleff, I like the Svetlana Winged "C" EL 34. What KT88's are you using? I'm using Genalex Gold Lion re-issues in my VAC amp. I think it'd be fun to play with an amp that could handle either. Another generalization I've noted is the EL 34's tend to be a bit smoother and sweeter in the midrange, while KT-88's have better dynamics and power. I can't really say that I've used 6550's in an amp. My only experience with the 6550 was in the power supply section of my ARC Ref 3 preamp.
Cheers,
John |
