Beginners Pre-amp



I'm in midst of changing things in my system and the next thing I want to try is a tubed pre-amp. I do plan to change my speakers to Paradigm S4 and would like to know which pre-amps would work. As for music it varies from Jazz(mostly) to live theater,dance,pop, etc...

My budget is at most 2500.00 new or used. I figured at that price point I can come away with something that I can live with for awhile and totally outclass the Pre-amp section of my receiver.

At that price point new I can come away with a BC21.1 as it allows me the options of the Shallco and a processor loop.

My questions are: What do the members here think of the BC?Will it work in my system. Is it a quite unit and and does it respond well to both tube rolling and PC upgrades.

Finally are there any others I should consider besides the VTL2.5/5.5. I know there's more but I drawing a blank.

Cheers
freakygreek

Showing 2 responses by c123666

VTL Ultimate...a great preamp with two phono inputs; one high output and one low output. Has a tape loop/moniter out, two pre outs and is a true dual monaural down to having two power supplies.
Beware of Convergent Audio Technology preamps. The owner/designer is very clear about wanting to service his own products and does not encourage upgrades. The capacitors are all very securely epoxied (or some type of glue like a rock) to the PCB. My tech called up CAT and was told there is a solution to reduce this glue but we could not have it; ie, send it back to CAT if you want work done on it.

I sold mine immediately. I kept it for about three weeks. I want to be able to upgrade capacitors and so on as required.