Pre-amp decision

I am a Rogue owner, I have the 99 pre (Magnum) and used to own the 120 Magnums. While I do like them very much I would say they are a little warm and tilted to having rich and a (little) thick bass. I do not want to sound negative because I do like them but I am have a difficult time finding wire that gives a natural tone. Nothing seems to have tight enough bass, again this is really nitpicking as Rogue is very nice in my opinion and when I switched to a Plinius SA100 MKIII amp I would say it was a tradeoff in sound, both are very nice.

If you're set on tubes and are looking to inject a little warmth into your system I'd say the Rogue is defitnitely worth looking into. If you're looking for a more neutral sound I think you may do better elsewhere.

I've been playing with a Marsh P2000 recently that is really impressive, and at only a little over $1000 I'd say it's a screaming bargain and competes with units many times its price. It flushes out tonal colors completely, conveys detail very naturally, is dead quiet, and looks great. Marsh also makes a tubed version for a few hundred dollars more that, if it's any better than its solid state sibling, should really make some waves in the audio world(there are a lot of reviews pending for these units, so it'll be interesting to see how they fare). I'd also highly recommend their amps that seem to be more refined than most at their price points, and their 100W offering is only around $1000--bet it would work great with the Paradigms.

You may also consider the Bryston BP25 that may offer some nice synergies with a Bryston amp if you go that way. I'd also recommend Placette preamps that are extremely neutral, and the company offers a risk-free 30-day trial. I also like the Pass Labs preamps, and you can probably find a used Aleph-P at an attractive price if you look.

Those would be some of my top picks, but you should try as many as possible in your system to find the preamp that really works best in your system and for your tastes--it's the only way. Personally I'd get the amp squared away first and then experiment with preamps. Best of luck.

Tim

Tim--thanks for the great tips. I will be looking at the amp first as you suggested. Most reviews of the Paradigms have been great with the Bryston 3B or 4Bs so I will probably find a used one of those. I have considered tube amps but want the tighter low end and reliability of solid state. The pre-amp is another story and think that a tube preamp will warm things up just a tad and improve the mids. Thats the theory anyway. Again thanks for the input....

I had recently purchased a Bryston BP 25 and 4B ST and thought that I was in music nirvana.
Then my friend asked ..why don't you try a tube preamp with the 4B ST.
I was able to audition,in my own home..in my own system..
a Blue Circle 3.1 and let me tell you ,my BP 25 never went back into my system. The improvement ..well the only word to decribe it is..WOW..
Granted this preamp is about twice as much as the BP 25 but the improvement is worth every penny.
Blue Circle also make a entry level preamp BC21, which there are a few for sale on Audiogon.
I don't think you can go wrong with either a Rogue or a Blue Circle..
I have since sold my BP 25 on Audiogon..
Happy looking and listening....

The Rogue 66 Magnum with the 3-B SST is an excellent choice, as is the BP-20/25 Bryston with Bryston amplifiers. The combination Bryston's is what I'd lean towards -you'll have a great sounding reliable system for a long time.

peter jasz

Just make sure you give a tube preamp a listen.You will not be disappointed.

I have owned both the Rogue 66(non-magnum) and the BP-25 both being married up to my 4B-ST. The BP-25 is brutally revealing and accurate. The Rogue on the other hand offers a warmth that gives me more listening pleasure for longer periods of time. Rogue preamps would be a good match but there are other inexpensive tube units out there that would also offer a nice presentation - Sonic Frontiers, Cary, Audible Illusions to name just a few. But do try to audition a tube preamp if you can...

Thanks to all for the response. I'll keep the forum posted on my results. It's been a while since I have been in high end audio. My original system was Acoustat Model IIs (with direct coupled tube amps) and a hand made tube pre-amp built during my early design days. The Acoustats sounded wonderful---in one spot. However, those things would blow up every year or so and I got tired of fixing them. Anyway this is great place for more current info.

Will ditto the Blue Circle recommendation (any model).