Suggestions for a holographic preamp?

@soix and @oddiofyl - That would be ideal, but as I mentioned above: 

these are custom programmed and a universal remote will not work with the preamp. As of now, he says he can be contacted if one needs to buy a replacement remote, but when it's down to one guy and probably a limited supply of remotes.... 

@rmdmoore - thank you for that - I'd like to hear more about that LS-100. I've gone on YouTube and Dan Wright has videos talking about the LS-99 and the LS-300, but there is nothing I could find on the 100.  I guarantee any remote it has is more substantial than this - I wish I could post a picture of it, you'd laugh - and it would probably be able to be programmed with a universal remote. 

Again, thanks to everybody contributing suggestions; I have a few thousand dollars at the Music Room from another unit I'm returning (not a preamp) and I'd like to get something new or used (whether in stock now or likely to be in stock soon) from them to apply it to. They do have a number of those suggested. 

Any thoughts on McIntosh tube preamps in that general price range? I've never owned any McIntosh gear but the descriptions of some of them on forums and reviews sound like what I'm after too, and some even have a DAC and phono preamp, which may or may not be up to how I hear what I currently have. 

Also, can anybody tell me anything about impedance matching between pre- and power amps? 

@daveyf - I've not heard of a CAT preamp - please elaborate? 

Thanks for the responses, and thanks in advance to anybody who wants to chip in. 

@ghdprentice - to me, 'holographic' just means a 3D soundstage where there is perceivable depth to the sound as well as width and height. My current Herron preamp does a great job with that. 

@barts - thanks, but I specifically asked Keith Herron if a universal remote could be taught on this and he told me no, and I don't think it's because he wants to sell a few cheap remotes.

@cfarrow - yes, that ESP 360 is what I've got as well, and I upgraded the tubes via Brent Jessee. I love its sound, but I really hate that remote! I may try a few of these that have home-audition and see how they compare in my system and my listening environment. I will not be letting go of my Herron Phono VTPH-2, however! 

@pindac - you are absolutely correct, which is why I'm soliciting many opinions as well as checking reviews and forums. 

@joeycastillo - MicroZOTL is one I'll be considering, and I see they have a 30-day home tryout. 

Spacial Audio Raven has a 45-day return policy. 

For new gear, Backert has a 14-day trial on a Rhumba Extreme 1.4, and PS Audio has a 30-day trial for the PMG Signature. 

@onhwy61 - good question, and I've got a very strange answer. It's the remote; this ain't just any remote, this is a cheap piece of plastic that's 3 1/2 inches long and 2 inches wide. It weighs about as much as a cheap piece of plastic that size. It falls between cushions a lot.

I've never seen anything like it; I think I read on a forum that originally his gear didn't have remote, but his customers kept requesting one, so this is it; he's showing he was putting his effort into designing and building gear, not remotes for 'em.

Still, it's got 10 buttons plus volume up and down. But these are custom programmed and a universal remote will not work with the preamp. As of now, he says he can be contacted if one needs to buy a replacement remote, but when it's down to one guy and probably a limited supply of remotes.... 

So I don't need a preamp to better the performance of my Herron, just to at least equal it, but without me having to worry about going remoteless, and as often as I use the mute and volume controls, that would not do. 

@jackd - Ah, I stated that confusingly, sorry - he's not a co-worker of mine - I don't work anywhere! - he's the rep at the Music Room who I deal with as a customer. 

Thank you, @otimmons - all comments and suggestions are welcome - I always like to learn something new - and that's pretty cool about that Carver holography! 

@daveyf - I looked it up and it seems like a great preamp, but it has no remote control, and as I'm constantly having to change volumes and mute during the course of a TV/music session, it would not work for me. Thanks again for the suggestion; I had heard of Convergent Technologies, just not the CAT acronym. 

@daveyf - makes total sense; that's why Keith Herron was reluctant to have a remote with his preamps until his customers demanded it, so he gave us this cheap tiny thing. Alas, I'm not interested SOLELY in SQ; I've got to be able to live with it functionally and practically as well. I was checking out Aric Audio's tube preamps, and he's the same way - no remote, all purity, but not for me. 

@daveyf - Right again, Davey (and @soix ); I don't know why he couldn't have put a 'Mute' button on there - all I really require is volume and mute. 

@oliver_reid - I have Marten Parker Duos - they deliver that in spades; they do with my current preamp. 

@signaforce - if I go the PS Audio route, it would be to audition the new PMG Signature preamp.

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I've researched all the suggestions you all have made, thank you, and as of right now, I'm leaning towards a home audition of a Backert Rhumba Extreme 1.4 and/or an LTA MicroZOTL Level 3. 

@robshaw - Thanks for that info, Robert - keep rockin'! 

BTW, I found the email and this is what Keith Herron says about his remote:

I am not aware of a universal remote that will work with the 360.  Our remote changes the code (a toggle bit) every other time you push the buttons (except for the volume level - and +).  This prevents switching back and forth when holding the button in too long.

@atmasphere - Wow, thanks for all that great information! And yes, I was leaning towards a balance preamp as well, so it can take advantage of the balanced XLR output of my DAC.  

Is there some spec I should look for to see if it supports that standard? 

@pindac - I checked out that link, and they've got those documents, but you've got to buy them. If it was electronics stuff, I wouldn't know what I was looking at anyway. 

I don't mind 'coloration' - I usually quite like it; I'm more interested in how the music makes me feel than how accurately it reproduces what the producer laid down. 

 @laaudionut - I might just do that; he might have some kind of solution to accomplish a remote muting functionality; I'm sure he's been asked about it before.

@avanti1960 - thank you! Actually, quite a long time ago I had a modded SLP-05, and my other gear was different then too, but it just didn't do it for me as much as I'd have liked. Could have been any number of factors, but I did give it a go! 

@invalid - I just checked out their website, and their product list is overwhelming! I'm not going to be doing any direct buys from Canada anyway (I love Canada, I just don't want to deal with international stuff).

And 1997 is calling them and it wants its web style back! That has to be one of the worst looking websites I've seen in a decade or more; they really should consider hiring a web developer to do an upgrade to the 21st century. 

@ei001h - Oh, I'm hip to Vinnie Rossi, and I believe every word you say about his Brama preamp, but alas, budget won't permit. Thanks for your suggestion, and you are right about that combo of MSB and Marten. I seldom if ever see an MSB S-200 power amp on the market; those are real keepers. 

@triton20trx and @ei001h - thanks - I know about tube rolling; I've upgraded tubes in both my Herron components and in my 2 tube headphone amps, including one with a couple of WE 300B's in it (and those were well worth the $1200). And yes, when I'm looking for a tube upgrade, my first stop is generally Brent Jessee. Been going to him for a lot of years now. 

@gkr7007 - I did indeed look into the Spatial Audio Raven, but it's too big for the space I have available; same reason I didn't look farther into the Aric Audio's preamps; if I had the space and could figure out some way around the lack of mute on the remote, I'd have bought a Motherlode XL.

LTA MicroZOTL and Backert Rhumba Extreme both would fit nicely; in fact, I've already gone ahead and placed an order for a MicroZOTL for audition. 

@vthokie83 - Yes, I've read some of your posts on other threads and they've been very informative. I appreciate your opinions on these.

Aric sure seems to put some serious mojo into his gear based on every single review or opinion I've read or seen about it by anybody. Not that people ain't been ravin' (sorry) 'bout the Raven, too.  

@jackd - Thanks for letting me know about Khozmo - I will check them out. I ended up buying a 2nd hand Super 6sN7 on USAM, from somebody who sold it because he needed a pre with balanced XLR outputs for a new amp; this would be good for me as it takes up less space than the 2 box Motherlode models and it comes with a remote with volume and mute. 

@seasidelps - thank you for that recommendation; I'd not heard of Viola Labs before and I looked them up; fascinating stuff, and I've no doubt that this is as good as you say it is, and $4500 or so for something that listed for $22K is great value, but I've also got to consider resale value, so I'll be sticking to some still relatively obscure but better known brands, and ones that don't need an iPod and 2.4G router! Hopefully some other people might see this recommendation and look into that at TMR. 

@audio_phool - sure, I'll check it out and get back to you in the next day or so. 

@audio_phool - OK, it originally had stock tubes, I don't remember which kind, and I replaced them with 4 6922 Amperex Bugle Boys. Those were fine with the speakers I had at the time, but shortly afterwards I upgraded the speakers and the Bugle Boys were too 'hot' for them, so I put the stock tubes back in. Still have the Bugle Boys, though. 

@livin_262002 - thanks for your suggestion; I just researched it and that is in my price range, and my local dealer even carries Octave Audio, but not that model. It's certainly something I'll keep in mind for the future; they sure seem to have some great gear.... 

@daveyf @soix - I've been doing some serious research on Aric's gear and I think I would really like something of his. I note that on the page with the Super 6SN7 preamp, it shows a remote that does have a Mute button. That preamp would also fit into my space better as a one box unit. But I'll ask him if the other preamps can be muted like that. 

That Transcend push-pull amp looks mighty tasty for the price, too. 

@vthokie83 - thanks! It should be showing up within the next few hours.  Aric and I have already been in communication, as I wanted to get his take on tube upgrades (do you have any suggestions? I've gotten some from Aric and from Brent Jessee) and to let him know that I'll likely be buying a Transcent Push-Pull; he suggested for my purposes and gear basing it around the Tung-Sol KT-170 tubes. 

So if you've got any advice for me concerning tube compliment or anything else about Transcend, I'd really appreciate hearing it! 

Thanks for that, @tksteingraber ! 

@vthokie83  - for sure, thanks for asking!

I put in an order for a LTA MicroZOTL a month ago and it should arrive on Monday.

In the meantime, I found a really nice used Aric Audio Super 6SN7 at a good price on USAM (the seller was moving up to the Motherlode XL as he wanted XLR connections) so I bought that. I've had some nice correspondence with Aric since then - and yep, what a great guy!!

The stock tubes were holding it back though, so I ordered some upgraded 6SN7's from Brent Jessee, and it sounded great with those until one of the tubes started making noises from my speaker that were like gunshots, and I'm exchanging those.

I'll likely keep the MicroZOTL as well - I can 'roll' preamps depending on the music and might be able to replace some of my tube headphone amps with the MicroZOTL.

I was considering the Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme, but with its higher price than the others, I think I'll stick with these two.