I'm desiring a more dynamic and expansive soundstage. With that, I have decided on an Aesthetix Callisto Eclipse. Negotiations are done, I'm just waiting on the final shipping cost so that I can send the funds. I already have an Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono pre. The Callisto allows me to stay with balanced interconnects and uses tubes which I have in my collection of vintage NOS pieces. Luckily I have the space available for this new beast. It has three chassis, two of which weighing in at 50 pounds each.
Help in deciding which tube preamp to replace my old SFL-2
I'm a long time audiophile. I am finally admitting that it is time to upgrade my tube preamp. For many years it has been my beloved Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 which was upgraded at Parts Connexxion about eight years ago and five years ago I changed out the 6922's to Siemens Rohre CCA tubes. Still sounds wonderful, but it's time. I am exclusively a vinyl listener and my system is: Nottingham table with Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge. Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono preamp fed to the SFL-2 via balanced interconnects. Primaluna EVO 400's as monoblocks with new KT88's and vintage European small tubes. I also still have my Levinson 27.5 and 23 SS amps. Speakers are Avalon Acoustics Opus. All cables are Transparent Audio Ultras. Musical preference is mostly classic rock; Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Cars, Eric Clapton, etc... but have over 3,000 LP's and do listen to Sinatra quite often. Love string guitars. I plan to buy used, and my budget is around $10K. I've narrowed it down to the following: VTL 7.5 (III), CJ GAT, AR Ref 5SE of Ref 6, Concert Fidelity CF-080 LSX V3, or an Aesthetix Callstio Eclipse.
I respect all comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Thank you.
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@awise1961 , I used to have a similar system to yours. my vote would be for the 7.5 III or the 6.5 series II. I have 3 of the VTL pres. They are really good. A couple of years ago I went through an eval process, on both preamps and phono stages. The Aesthetix Rhea is a nice phono section. I used one for about 6 months. But have heard nothing that sonically beats the TP6.5 combo with a TL7.5 in full differential mode, until you get up to the Boulder level. I also used to have the EVO 400s. they are pretty nice sounding and have plenty of power when run in mono mode.
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- 36 posts total