Need some pre-amp advice...

I used to run a Wadia 850 direct into a BAT VK60. This was 4 years ago when the 850 was near state of the art. I brought home a BAT VK50se at that time. Wow, an active preamp really improved things for me. Mostly in the area of soundstaging, bass control, robustness of sound.

The BAT also fits your xlr criteria above. Should drive the Pass amps fine (search here, other have posted w/ bat pre's and pass amps-everything seemed fine)

If someone didn't tell you about tubes in the BAT you'd never know it with out looking. About as carefree as it gets. I owned my VK50se for 3-4 years with out any trouble whatso ever. I recentley upgraded it to a 51se and replaced the tubes (plug and play took about 5 minutes total-if you can change a light bulb-you can do this) not sure the tubes did much, after 3 or 4 years the old tubes were just fine.

Your preamp list is all good. They will sound different. You may have to try a few. IMO, you'll be just fine with the BAT.

Blake,

I had your same dilemma. I was looking for a a two channel balanced preamp to run my Lexicon processor through. After searching and trying many tube devices and a Krell, I settled on the X0.2.
I have since separated the two channel audio from the seven channels of video related audio into two separate rooms. Now I do not need the bypass, so I have been auditioning preamps to see if any others meet my sonic needs any better than the X0.2. I have found none that do.

The X0.2 steps to bypass are still in my Pronto under the theater macro. I mention this because if you decide to go the bypass route, it is the easiest way to set up a "theater system on and bypass"macro to work from your theater chairs. Especially for the wife and kids. (My policy is the less family fingers touching gear the better. Prontos are cheap by comparison to the gear.)

Thanks for the advice -- I am leaning toward the Pass pre (X0 or X0.2) just because I love the way the two components sound together (amp and pre). I was wondering, though, has anyone had a chance to audition the X0 vs the X0.2? I know that the power supply capacitance was increased, and I believe that that is all the difference -- is there a large difference in the sound quality? I could imagine a difference in amps, if the power supply was increased, but pre-amps?

As you can see I am a complete neophyte when it comes to preamps, as I never really had the need to care about them. Now I do, and I find them extremely hard to track down the nuances of...

Blake

Preamps are hard, probably the most difficult component to get right. SS are either dark-sounding or sibilant. Tubes can be very good, but can also be lacking in dynamics or LF extension/tightness.

My own reference is an old Mark Levinson #38 with extensive mods. This thing is bullet-proof, balanced in and out, remote controlled, .1 dB volume increments and 7 ohms output impedance. Totally programmable and somewhat intelligent. Sounds dark before mods though. Afterwards, it beats every SS pre I have heard, including the Pass.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

BTW - the ML #38 has processor balanced bypass. I use it in a combo HT/2-channel system myself.