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Looking for a great preamp for our store Backert labs vs Wells Audio vs Zesto

Hello everyone, we are revamping our tube preamp offerings and are looking for a really great sounding preamp to offer our clients.

We have heard the Backert labs at shows and they sound great also great press, we like balanced ins and outputs, home theater bypass, don't like remote only controls volume

vs

Wells Audio Commander, which offers balanced in and out, remote that controls everything, home theater bypass and the fact that you can upgrade from the $4k model to the $9k model to the $18k model by just sending the piece in, also have heard that Wells makes some really cool headphone amps, amps and other such gear.

Zesto's Leto looks fantastic as well has balanced ins and outputs, home theater bypass and a heaphone jack which is a plus but only one model and basic volume only remnote.

Any comments or feedback would be appreciated.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
128x128audiotroy
5 responses Add your response
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philipwu
214 posts
 
hi Dave and Troy , 

i think you already had the answer. you mentioned great sound in Backert labs preamp, and nothing about the sound from other 2 preamp, just its features.. 
i highly recommend Backert Labs because it's a chameleon. it response well with different tubes. Andy is very helpful with your queries. it comes from my experiences, 
regards, 
-p
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Croft
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gasherbaum
43 posts
 
Hi Dave and Troy,
I have owned an Audio  Research (ARC) LS 17SE and currently own the ARC REF 10 and love them both.  Admittedly, I love the ARC sound, so understand that I may be biased.  I heard the Zesto at RMAF a few years ago and it also sounded great.  I don't know Wells or Backert. 
bsavage
27 posts
 
I have owned several Audio Research preamps (and amps) in the past, but have owned the Zesto preamp for the past 4 years. I really enjoy the sound, the looks and the reliability of the Zesto. It is very detailed while remaining very musical and easy to listen to for long periods of time. I especially enjoy the dense tonal colors and big, 3 dimensional soundstage. It responds well to tube rolling, power cord changes and fuse upgrades.

The remote is fairly utilitarian only offering volume, mute and mono functions, but that's all I need anyway.

In 4 years I haven't had one issue with the unit, which I am sorry to say wasn't the case with previous pieces of tube gear I have owned.

I have no experience with the other two brands you mentioned.
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