@decooney DOH! Note the EH sound fine in my buddies system but then again the rest of his system is amazing. He has the funds to do it so...
Solid State Preamp to replace tube unit
I currently own a CJ tube preamp. Ive always owned tube preamps and I would like to get my first solid state preamp.I am fed up with buying expensive hard to find tubes that last 3 months or new production tubes with that not so great sound. I pine for consistency. I probably wont sell my CJ I'll just keep it. My power amps are NAD M23 for the summer and CJ Premiere 12's for the winter.
Since I dont dabble in the solid state world I am not sure what to get. I figure since this is my first SS unit 4-5k preowned??. Some brands I have considered CODA< Pass, AYRE, Classe, Bel Canto, Krell etc. Note: I have tried the Parasound and Benchmark but they didnt do it for me. I dont like anayltical sterile sound. If it is a touch warm/colored that is probably good as I am coming from a very warm CJ tube unit.
Must haves are a remote with balance control. Multiple outputs (XLR and RCA). I have an outboard phono pre. Thank you for reading and for your suggestions.
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You have Nice Conrad Johnsen amplifiers why would you want to change out of your CJ pre-amplifier? Which model is it? I hear pairing CJ is really a good idea. I thought about buying one of the amplifiers to go with my CJ and didn't do it because I wanted to biamp with tube and solid-state. I would upgrade the preamp from CJ, can't believe tubes would be that much of an issue. |
@jimbones I didn't read the whole thread so I apologize if someone already mentioned this. I had the same problem. My phono stage needed the tubes replaced yearly and then I got a tube headphone amp and was going through tubes every 3 months. The problem was the voltage was high, which fried my tubes. I got a $20-30 voltage meter to confirm the voltage was above 120. It was not much above 123 - 126, but that was enough. I get a step-down transformer and that solved the problem. I hope this helps.
Mike |
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@miker123 thanks. I also have a PS Audio power plant buty I am not going through it. Maybe I should. Also, my tubes tend not to be a catastrophic failure but get hiss or noisy. |
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