Tubeyist sounding Pre-amp?

yes, euphonic - a warm sound (upper bass, lower midrange prominence) and LIQUID 

the pre-amp now is a Sonic Frontiers with a Sunfire Cinema Grand that is bi-amped into Maggies

Tube Haters key in on the negative aspects of tube amplification: Great, fat, bloated, lacking transparency like trying to read fine print through a layer of mud while wearing a welder's mask

and fell that tendency is worse than the benefits of a warm, liquid, honeyed, smooth sound.

The trick is to get lots of the latter while minimizing the former subjective qualities.

Anything that does that for say $500??

Thx - my pre-amp is broken and may not be worth repairing

the $500 figure was my guess at a repair to my SF Line One - it is at a local shop now and I have heard nothing for two weeks.

I have to admit I have my eye on a piece of ARC gear too, tho I understand they are very neutral sounding...

we'll see on the repair - after 2 months they have not even looked at it so I should have sent it to Canada instead...

I really like the knobs on the older ARC products...

no, the Sunfire sounds very nice

I have 2 channels and bi-amp the Maggies

Thx - I see there was one on here but it sod.

My guess is that there is no magic, but a certain circuit topology and some MOSFETs involved....

Audio Electronic Supply AE-3

??