Upgrade Mcintosh C39 Preamp to tube suggestions?


System details: Mcintosh 2105 amp- MC39 preamp- B&W 805 sigs- MH 5.1 turntable- After recently coverting to vinyl I feel guilty about running a pre-amp designed for ht so I'm considering upgrading my trusty C39 SS preamp to a tube.

I am considering the C220 but my local Mac dealer is horrible and I would rather give my business to the dealer down the street who just gave me a smokin deal on a used Mac 2205 for my man-cave garage project ($300).

The local dealer carries Conrad Johnson- and Rogue He will let me take anything I want home to audition. So I'm looking for suggestions on tube pre-amps that would be on par or better than a C220? Would like to keep the cost under $4000. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
If CJ or Rogue are not in the same league as Mcintosh please let me know that too!... That should get the chickens dancing. LOL

Thanks


welly192
Talk to Audio Classics in Binghamton NY. They will back your purchase and give you a fair trade for your MC39
If you want to break away from McIntosh and want to spend 4000 or less. I should preface this with I ahd a C39 for years and have since gone through MX130,132,134 and now a MX135. I wanted to add a tube pre amp to my system and maintain a 5.1 surround and have a 2 channels system as well. So I decided to add a pre amp with unity gain(ht pass thru) between my MX135 and my MC402 for the fronts.
I looked at the C2300 as it was the same price as the Audio Research LS26 new. I went with the LS26 and have been very happy and am actually looking at upgrading it to a REF3. SO to answer your question add the Audio Research LS26 to your lis of options. And by going with the Unity gain feature if you are using the C39 as a six channel pre amp, you can keep it in your system and add the LS26 between it and your amp. Unless you have the 2 channel version of the C39 (McIntosh made 2 one 2 and one 6 channel) then sell the C39. If you can wait a few weeks I will be listing my LS26 which is less than a year old.