What Solid State PreAmp?

I'm also a tube guy,however,I've heard wonderful things about Jeff Rowlands Capri pre amp and it's a lot less than what you're looking to spend.

I agree with Ejlif. If your set on a SS preamp the Ayre K-1XE is something special. When you consider the used price of $4-5K they are hard to beat.

The Jeff Rowland Design Group competes with all the preamps you've listed and only costs $2400. Look for the reviews around A'gon. It's too new for the paper mags.

Dave

I am a tube guy, but the best SS preamp I have ever heard is the Placette Audio active.

I'm very happy with my Klyne 7. Beautiful build quality and design. Matched with a tubed Mcintosh MC275.

Thank you all for your feedback. As to why SS vs. Tube, I have used tube in the past. I just want to try something new. I would like to try solid state. I currently have the McIntosh 402 Amp.

I have not heard Dodd Audio nor Belles. I have listened to Parasound, it is not my cup of tea. I found it a bit clinical, although very detailed.

Keep the feedbacks coming.

Thanks.

Dodd Audio.......and yes , it is not the SS but with only two 6922 and only one cap in the circuit it is as transparent as I have heard. Besides its great/awesome sound, it runs on four batteries. Any power issues and power cord selection is out of the loop which is heard as a complitlly black and silent backgrounds. Absolutly quiet even at highest volumes - dead silent, inch away from the drivers.....0, non whatsoever. It all wouln't matter if it didn't sound any good. In fact ,I am willing to put it againts any make and model up to 10K.......anyone up for a challange in NY area????

I am not related to the company in any way, shape or form.....just a very satisfied customer, that is all. It is sold direct and for less then your original price range.

Cheers and happy listening

Mariusz

While I have not tried a lot of high dollar preamps the Ayre K1x was a revalation in my system.

Ayre KX-R

What amp will you be using?

I don't generally put a lot of stock in reviews, except to help me narrow or widen a field of components to consider and audition. With that in mind, you might want to take a look at the June/July Absolute Sound. Jonathan Valin compares the Parasound JC-2 to his reference Audio Research Ref-3. If you're specifically looking for SS in particular, the review might be helpful.

You owe it to yourself to audition the new Belles LA-01 SS preamp. It is truely one of the great pre's available. Make sure you listen to one that has about 200Hours under it's belt. A very musical two box pre that will fall into the lower end of your price range. Bruce Jacobs is the marketing guru for Dave Belles and can be reached at either 920-277-9468 or 920-582-5982.

From Chord to EMMLabs Switchman - what functionality do you want/need - to me the functionality is an important thing in a pre - not just the "specs" (which often exceed the recording quality). Do you want to be able to control one or two subwoofers? Do you want room EQ? Do you want all balanced inputs and outputs. Do you need digital in with master clock or just Toslink or Tos + SPDIF or multiples of each?

Parasound or PS Audio GCP 200/GCPS

I'm sorry to bogart your thread a bit, but I have to ask why somebody would decide a priori to limit a preamp search to SS. With power amps, I can certainly understand, as there there are real negatives associated with tubes - heat, wear, etc. But most valved preamps have tube lifetimes in the tens of thousands of hours - it's a non-issue. As is heat. There are just no meaningful negatives with tubes in this area, and while there are some transistor preamps that sound just great, there are sure a lot more tubed preamps that sound *really* great and it seems to be much easier to do with tubes.

Just food for thought. Maybe you have reasons for limiting yourself to SS that I don't understand.