Looking For The Best Pre-Amp Match For A Pair of Classe Omega Amplifiers


Going to pick up a pair of Classe Omega monoblock amplifiers this week. Need to select a pre-amp for it. 

 

Was wondering which Classe pre-amps  were considered their best offerings?

 

Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated.

neonknight

To be honest a lot of these upper tier pre-amps have attributes I really don't care for. Why do they have to use programmable inputs? I don't care what set of jacks are assigned to what input button and the corresponding one on the remote. I just want a high quality pre amp with excellent volume control, balanced outputs, and remote control capability. I don't need a huge electronic display or bunches of other stuff....these newer pre-amps have LCD screens that just look like trouble to me. 

I will admit, to me, no preamp comes to mind with the attributes you seek that is not tubed. My recommendation for a not cold, detailed neutral preamp would be an Audio Research Reference… as contemporary as you can afford.
 

I guess if push came to shove I would recommend a Pass for solid state. I owned mostly Pass amps and preamps for decades.  

Backert is tubed but is not Conrad-Johnson-tubey, and has all the attributes you desire and none that you don't want.

I just want a high quality pre amp with excellent volume control, balanced outputs, and remote control capability.

If you want to get the most out of balanced operation, with whatever preamp you look at, ask if it supports AES48, the balanced line standard. Most high end audio preamps don't.

I would recommend taking a look at the CODA SS preamps. CODA tends to fly under the radar, but it is top notch American built SS gear. Very detailed and transparent, but with a warmer quality. The 07X maybe out of your price range, but the CODA CP is a great preamp with a lot of the 07X performance. Both can also be found on the used market. Good luck.