"Reference" Preamps

Thanks again, everyone. Some very interesting options here, and I'm also questioning my bias towards XLR outs too.

Thanks very much for the responses. As I typed the list out I knew I was forgetting something, and the VTL 6.5/7.5 is definitely an option I'm interested in too. I've heard Aesthetix mentioned in high regard, and will investigate further (as with the others).

Now, could you please provide some more relative opinions?

For example, Teajay states that his Placette replaced a Mark Levinson preamp, and auditioned six others along the way. What did the Placette excel at that made you buy one? Was it more detail than the Levinson, more soundstage than brand #2, better dynamics than #3?

The devil is in the details... especially when getting ready to spend such a large amount of money and with a two year old around lengthy excursions to the hi-fi shops are few and far between! Again, much appreciated.

Vic, I completely agree with your statement that my subjective taste will weigh heavily in the final decision. What I'm trying to do here is to narrow my list down a little so I make sure I'm evaluating the best contenders. This is both to expand the list (as with the Placette) and to narrow it so I don't waste time listening to gear that probably won't sound the way I want.

Where I disagree with you is in believing that there's middle ground that the hi-fi press is not covering right now, and that has to do with more basic comparisons and fewer superlatives. Stereophile's recent review of the ARC Ref3 tells me little more than it is the greatest preamp ever made and it exudes all the qualities one would expect from a preamp in that price range. It offers nothing as to the character of the sound relative to the author's own current reference, nor any other products in that range. This is as useless as the direct comparison you mention, but just because there are flaws on either end of the spectrum does not mean that there is value in between them.

How much are the Reflection components? Seems like there's a very Naim-like (addictive and expensive) upgrade path with their offering.

Some excellent additional models there.

I've sent an e-mail to Placette but haven't heard anything back yet.

Cardas also suggests that 3-4m of single-ended Golden Reference is not a problem and that I shouldn't use the XLR outputs as a selection criteria.

I'm also going to try and hear the Hovland HP200 and Conrad-Johnson ACT2.

I've been meaning to call Guy Hammel to follow up on my e-mail. I can understand why he'd want to spend his time with people who care enough to call :)

On the other side, I've had some ABYSMAL experiences lately with dealers for some of the other products on my list. It seems like once you leave the mainstream there are some very strange people carrying the product lines. It really does make me want to either deal direct like with Placette or stick to the bigger brands like BAT and ARC.