2. amps-preamps
  3. 1263152881

Tube pre around 1000, Audible Illusions or belles

Ive been wanting to get into a tube pre for a long time, now that I have my chance Im at a cross roads. Ive read alot of good things about the audible illusions L2, and I would have already bought an L2 but I havent seen any on AGON. However, because I havent found any its made me look else where, my second choice, belles 21a. I heard a belles pre a long time ago but thought it was a little tubey sounding,( it was on a tube amp) but I still liked the sound alot. But it was a long time ago and I dont realy rememeber anything but I liked it. SO THE QUESTION REMAINS, SHOULD I CONTINUE TO WAIT ON THE AUD ILLUS L2, OR SHOULD I GO WITH THE BELLES 21a. Anyway to sum up, I like a nice ballence of warmth and detail, I dont like symbalince, or somthing thats so nuetral the sound is dead. I like the sound that jumps right at you and you just think Sh*t Thats good .
My system now, Classe ca200; mirage m1 speakers; tara labs speaker cables; audioquest interconnects; marantz cdp

PLEASE ANY HELP WOULD BE SO APPRETIATED
jonnyblaze
davt
500 posts
 
I have a belles 21A with a classe amp, CA2200 and they sound very good together. I would strongly recommend one with the Auricap capacitors. These are four very large yellow capacitors that can be seen in the vent holes. I think that it was a steal at $3000 and used even more so.
beavis
272 posts
 
Look at a Decware CSP2 (about $800). Use the money saved to but CDs.
steveaustin
57 posts
 
Apologies in advance for not responding with the two units you referred to in mind, but I recently got an Audio Electronic Supply (AES/Cary) AE-3 preamp that is very minimalist (only 3 inputs and one set of outputs) but MAN, this thing has blown me away with how sweet-sounding it is! Build and parts quality is much higher than you might expect at the price. Someone recently described the sound of the AES stuff to me as "shimmering like a fine diamond" and I couldn't have put it any better. Lush and full-bodied, but not rolled off in the highs. Bass is perhaps a tad 'rubbery' for some, but not me. Up until recently I had an Audio Research tubed preamp, but have finally admitted to myself that I prefer more of a 'tubey' and 'euphonic' sound to a 'neutral' and 'accurate/analytical' sound (very un-audiophile of me, I know) and I am just enjoying listening to music a LOT more these days. Plenty of inexpensive tube-rolling possibilities with the AE-3's 6SN7 tubes, and they usually go for only around $450 used (more for the remote version).

On another note, I seem to remember reading that the AI pre-amps sound great, but are pretty hard on tubes, FWIW.

Good luck with whatever you decide on. :)
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