Tubed Pre to mate with W4S monos 1K budget

That would be smart:) I would not say have ruled anything out yet, here is a rundown of what I have looked into: CJ, BAT, Rouge, Audio Research, Primaluna, Jolida, Cayin, AES, Cary, Anthem, Dared. I am sure I am forgetting a few but those seem to come up quite a bit in the 1k-1.5k range new or used. Is there something else in that range that I should keep an eye out for?

There are a few Rogue Mag 99 preamps for sale. I prefer the sound of the 6SN7 tube versus 6DJ8/6922 tube sound. I recently installed a few of the 6SN7 NOS tubes that I owned in a friends Rogue 99 and the preamp became very musical over the stock 6SN7 tubes he was using. The CBS 6SN7 GTB tubes are cheap and work very well in the Rogue. I have never owned a Rogue product.

Try a Manley Shrimp, they usually pop up for around $1000-1200 used.

The AE-3 from AES is super IMHO. The in DJH edition runs in your price range or even less new (I have seen them at Upscale Audio). It uses 6SN7s primarily which allow for a great deal of experimentation with many around to roll. Got mine used here for very little in plain original guise, then had it upgraded.

A VTL 2.5 is one I owned around $800-$850 used. It was quiet and a very good and solid preamp; worked well with my W4S ST-1000.

I will look into VTL, that is one I did not realize was in my range. The Rogue is also on my short list, probably the 66 though as the 99 will not fit in my cabinet. I have also checked out the Consonance Cyber preamp, looks interesting but few reviews. Anyone have one of these that can comment?

Bwp,

I own the Consonance Cyber 222 preamp and I've been very pleased with it. 4 6SN7s in an SRPP layout, tube rectified, Auricaps, external power supply, very nice build quality. Tube rolling makes a big difference with the Cyber so you can alter the sound to your taste; I've just started experimenting there. The only caution is the relatively high gain (20 dB) and the remote, which works but is a little quirky. It appears the gain of all the W4S monos is 27 dB, so you'd want to watch your overall gain if you have efficient speakers. Feel free to email me if you have more questions.

David

Thanks David, I may go that route if I see one come up. I am running Magnepan 1.6qr, not too efficient so the gain should be OK. I also stumbled across a Modwright 9.0SE that looks like it might fit the bill.

Bwp,

The Modwright was on my short list too, and was the only non-6SN7 preamp I considered. My other favorite was the Cary SLP-98. I need at least 4 inputs so that ruled out the AES and a couple others. In the end, I got such a great deal on the Cyber 222 that I couldn't pass it up.

An Audiogoner who had owned both the Cyber and the Cary said they were very similar, with the Cary being just slightly darker. Their circuits are very close, but the Cyber is significantly less expensive.

David

I use the PrimaLuna Prologue 3 with W4S monoblocks and love the combination. The Prologue series does not have a remote, but I believe that the dialogue series does. There are two pre outs plus a tape out on the PrimaLuna.

Thanks all for the suggestions! I have also stumbled across the VAC Auricle preamp, that seems to have all the features that I need. Very little info on the web and forums though, not sure if it was very propular in its day.