Audible illusions Modulus 3A or Klyne 6L

Great ! In my experience, they're the only manufacturer which,in my knowledge and experience, have such a design for supposedly preserving the tubes.

I have VAC and Conrad Johnson preamps, both start on mute and necessitate a few minutes warm up and stabilizing with signaling on the machine. Different design ? And I can use any brand of tubes on them without restriction and tried a lot. And I never burned a set until know although I admit I roll a lot ! And I've never read, on Audiogon or elsewhere,or experienced that all tube preamps are tube eaters with AI beeing the exception. Never ! I don't read any complaints that a specific unit is generally known to shorten tube life except.....well of course !

Please educate me. Although I've read a lot on the present subject just by typing the brand's name with "tube problem" in Google, I would like to read the info you've got on other audio manufacturers having similar problems with similar reputation.

Oh yes, I forgot ! The ARC SP-10 !

I've got no experience with the Klyne 6L, but I can highly recommend the AI mod3a. I’ve been using the AI product for many years *(with no problems) starting with the mod3, then the mod3a, and now I use the mod3b. My preference has been to use the Russian tubes... The tube eating stories are very dated.

I agree with Stickman451, that the Hovland would best the AI easily but at what price. Additionally Hovland is out of business; Art on the other hand is just slow.

Michael Femer's review from Stereophile Magazine stated he was thrilled with the Modulus 3A right out of the box and stated the 3A offers the highest level of performance at a bargain price. Further he states that the 3A is clearly one of the finest-sounding, best-built, full function preamplifiers in the world and reviews from around the world would reflect that.

I thought I would mention this only because this review is what motivated me to buy the Modulus L1, same exact line-stage as the 3A, minus the phono stage.

Yes he did..........in 1996 !!!! At a time when tube prices were much more affordable and burning three pairs of NOS tubes in a year was not a concern for most tube lovers !

For me, a concern that Methodology has to know about before making a choice. Just to be aware. There is a lot of competition out there in the tube preamplification market, in the used as much as the new. A lot more than there was in 1996. Especially at the AI Modulus level. And Michael Fremer rated it 13 yrs ago. And he did rate a lot since then. Curiously, a lot of them are also very fine units.