2. amps-preamps
  3. 187985-147162

Tubed preamps and Power amps- How old is too old???

I am currently using a Conrad Johnson Premiere LS17 preamp. This preamp was well regarded when it came out a bit over 20 years ago and list price was over $4000. It has probably seen 8000-10,000 hours of play time. The tubes are all Amperex that test and work fine.

To my ears, it sounds great. That being said, at what point either due to wear of internal parts and/or improved design, is it worth replacing? There is no doubt that things on the digital side of things have move quickly with respect to innovation and implementation but what about preamps and power amps, especially tube ones?

Any members, replaced aging tubed preamps and power amps and found it worthwhile assuming you stayed at a similar quality level? If you wanted to upgrade from my preamp, what would you consider? Budget of $7500 max. For reference, I use digital sources and an R2R Dac and Quicksilver Mid Mono Power Amps into reasonably efficient speakers. No phono section required or wanted.

128x128alvinnir2

Showing 1 response by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
6,423 posts
 

I have been an active audiophile for about fifty years. Typically I upgrade my system about every seven to ten years with new equipment. I found for me every ten years represents a very significant improvement in performance, worthy of upgrading. I have stayed with some brands and experienced different brands.

This is me. But my reaction after ten years has always been, “wow, I didn’t think that big a difference was possible.”

‘Also, around fifteen years performance starts to be impacted by age… by twenty most things are not sounding that good compared to when new. It happens so slowly it is not obvious, and is easy to conflate with new equipment’s better performance.

More to discover