Preamp suggestion for Coincedent M300B Frankenstein mk2

Recently went from Audyn True Copper Max and Miflex KPCU  to Duelund Cast tinned copper in custom build 300B's. Wow, Cast relegates all other audiophile film caps I've tried to distant second place!
 

Yes, thanks to good advice from grannyring years ago who suggested them for my Coincident speaker crossover and my DAC. The Duelund CAST Cu foil capacitors have been superb for me. Expensive capacitors and worth every cent. I’m not surprised by your terrific results.

Charles

@kennyc I have owned the coincident Frankensteins, coincident Dragons, coincident line stage and coincident phono stage.

I didn't care much for the coincident phono as a preamp, it sounds sterile like a passive preamp or like going dac-direct. Sound loses body.

The coincident line stage was better, but I did not like it as much either. I tried it with the stock tubes. It was not that much better than the coincident phono. Later after I sold it I was told that it sounds better if you replace the stock tubes with the psvane alternative.

The best preamp I liked with the Frankenstein 300b was the Shindo Monbrison. It's probably the best sound I have had in my system till date, I was dumb to have sold the Monbrison when I moved across the pond (I should have rewired to 230V, in hindsight).

You can get a used Monbrison for $6000, if you look hard enough, and bonus, it comes with a world class built in phono.

Just my two cents and my experience. Cheers and good luck.

After 5 years of intensive research, I’ve nearly completed my first bucket list analog+digital audio chains emphasizing linearity and neutrality hoping to land somewhere mid-fi - Constellation Inspiration Pre+Stereo electronics to a Magico A5.

In addition, I subsequently want to explore quality “tube” sound and it seems that the 300B amp is maybe one of the best tube sounds. So I’m targeting the Volti Rival 100db speakers (seems relatively uncolored vs other efficient speakers) and am considering the following 300B amps:
1.5 ELEKIT TU-8600S kit
2.5 Line Magnetic LM-210 IA 300B
4.0 STEREO TUBE AMPLIFIER INSPIRE by DENNIS HAD CLASS A 300B
6.0 Woo Audio WA5 300b
6.5 Coincident M300B Frankenstein MK III
and plan to hook it up to my Constellation Inspiration Pre.

Statement pre not near it's potential with stock 101D tubes, no color, low level of transparency, resolution, I'd not think much of it in that configuration. An analog to it would be like comparing run of the mill Shuguang 300B vs any of the top flight 300B tubes in 300B amp, you'd not have really heard your 300B amp with the Shuguang.

Any component running tubes can only be properly considered in the context of running top flight tubes in it, anything less cannot be considered a full accounting.

@sns

Statement pre not near it’s potential with stock 101D tubes, no color, low level of transparency, resolution, I’d not think much of it in that configuration. An analog to it would be like comparing run of the mill Shuguang 300B vs any of the top flight 300B tubes in 300B amp, you’d not have really heard your 300B amp with the Shuguang.

Much in agreement , although my impression with the budget priced stock 101D isn’t quite as harsh. I am sure a decision made in an effort to keep cost of the Line Stage very reasonable. With stock 101Ds it’s still a very good sounding/performing component.

However the full sonic brilliance is hampered by the lesser quality tubes. Replacing them with the upper tier 101D completely erases the bottleneck and allows the Statement to absolutely shine unhindered. The 300b analogy by @sns is on the mark. I’d say 80% potential versus full 100% sound quality. In both cases (Line Stage and amplifiers) it makes no sense to have excellent components limited by inferior/average tubes. They deserve the top quality alternatives.

I can easily believe that the Coincident Frankensteins paired beautifully with the Shindo preamplifier. Why not? Two wonderful components. Before I decided to purchase a new Statement Line Stage, I’d given serious consideration to purchase a used Shindo Masseto (Thanks to the late Art Dudley’s enthusiasm) preamplifier (with its unique Telefuken pentode circuit). I have absolutely no doubt I would have loved this matched to my Frankenstein 300b mono blocks.

There is always more than one path to superb sound quality. I truly believe that the Masseto would have been one. In the end I was just drawn to the use of the DHT 101D in a minimalist circuit utilizing interstage and volume control transformers. In essence DHT feeding DHT 300b SET amplifier. The results have been sublime for me. The best quality 101D are a necessity. One of the very best audio decisions I have made.

Charles