pre-amp and amp for 1K

Sorry, I do not know a thing about their preamp other than people love them. If sound quality is equivalent to the 88 amp, I can see why.

I was about to recomend the Rogue myself (and am personally longing for a 99 Magnum to replace my VTL preamp). Trick is, admittedly, the Rogues do not come stock with a HT processor loop (though I think they have a tape loop that could serve essentially the same purpose). However, I have it from Mr. Rogue himself (whose name escapes me at the moment) that it would be no problem to have them add one. Wish I had gotten a price quote from him on that... That said, a used VTL TL 2.5 is not a bad option either at around $7-800 used, and they do come with both a tape and a HT loop. I've got a Bryston 4b-st backing up the VTL and really can't say enought about the tube/solid state combo. Try it, I bet you'll like it.

I would love to get the Rogue, heard a 88 magnum with a McCormack amp hooked up to the same speakers I have. That's what sold me on the speakers.

However, with a Ski Trip and a wedding comming up, I would rather buy used. I'll spend $1500 or a little more if it's buying me an amp that went for $3000 new a couple of years ago, but $1200 for a new Rogue pre. Hell, I can get that anyday.

if you are willing to suffer w/two separate volume controls for the times you are doing the home-theatre thing, any preamp w/a tape loop will work - just plug the h-t receivers' outputs into the preamps' tape inputs.

i'd recommend a melos sha-1 preamp, and electrocompaniet amplification. both steals for the sonics, even when new, imo. when purchased used, it's *really* a steal! :>)

melos f/s for $425 on agon:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?preatube&1015803332

a *steal* on TWO electrocompaniet amps for $1300 the pair:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstran&1015431268

another decent ec amp deal - one for $800:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstran&1015949449

doug s.

By far the best sonic combo that I can think of that you can get for anywhere near the price range you are talking is the Odyssey Stratos amp and perhaps their Tempest pre-amp. Check out the reviews on audioreview.com. Out of about 90 consumers, last time I checked the Stratos was rated a 5 out of a possible 5. Not one flaw. Website is Odysseyaudio.com I believe. They should have some reviews there also. Each component sells for $999 each. But again, they are some of the best made for anything under $5000 per component. Buy one now and one later or perhaps Odyssey can give you a bit of a deal.

If you must, must stay under $1200 and need both right now, you might want to look for a Sherwood Newcastle pre and amp used on audiogon or Perhaps a Sony TA9000ES pre which sells new for I think $700. The Sony TA90000Es is supposed to be pretty good, but the Sherwood Newcastle stuff, though decent looking, is supposedly a definite step down sonically.

IMO

-John