Nice Tube Preamp for Boulder 1060

I'm not familiar with your CD player. You may have figured out by now that everything makes a difference and synergy is huge. A tube pre could be an easy way out. Seems a shame because your components were designed to work together. By far the biggest improvement I made in my system was changing the amplifiers to 240V. It's a simple conversion that any dealer can do. You need an electrician to run a 240 line and change the plug on the amp. That cost me less than $500. I would call Goodwin's in boston and see if they advise 240V with the 1060. If that doesn't become feasible, then I would look at cables. There are many options there, and that depends on your price range. Power conditioning can be worthwhile. TheBoulder did well with the running springs, Sound Application, and the Audience AR6-T. Curious to hear what they tell you about the 240V issue.

Hessec

This might not be what you would like to hear but anyway this is my advise. Dump the speakers. In the town where I live there used to be a high end audio shop and sometimes they gave a small show. So at one of those shows they had Magico V3, Boulder 1060, 1010 and 1021. I didn't like what I heard. In the same room I also heard a set consisting of: Boulder 850, 1010, Nagra CDP and Verity audio Parival or Leonore (not sure what model). This set while being cheaper played on a higher level.
The owner of the shop agreed with me. But he also thought the 850 mono's were better then the 1060.

The Boulder mono 850 doesn't sound better than the Boulder 1060. The Boulder 1060 in my direct comparison was much more liquid, silenced, fast than the 850's.

As an update.... everything seems to have calmed down a bit and I have been playing with positioning a lot. I'm probably at around 350hrs on the speakers. Bass extension is still improving. Jumped the gun a little bit on the component change.... that being said, I would still like to hear a tube pre in the system. And yes, the 1060 is a totally different experience than the 850 mono or 800 series in general. I think some may be impressed with the 850 low/mid punch but the 1060 is another level of refinement, speed and depth. The low end is equal or greater (deeper) than the 850 just much more controlled and layered. I owned the 865 and have heard the 2060, 860 and 850 at length.

Do not power down your Boulder equipment for several days and then listen. Boulder equipment sounds very harsh unless it is left continually powered up. Then it is spectacular. Unless the tube preamp is beyond extraordinary, a Boulder preamp sounds best with a Boulder amp. But, leave both on continually.