2. amps-preamps
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Budget vacuum tube preamp?

I got so many great responses on my last thread regarding when to go vacuum vs solid I figured I would post my follow up in a separate thread.

It seems the way to go for the amount of maintenance I am willing to do is a vacuum preamp with solid amps. I would like to have the HT bypass so I can use my HT receiver for multi ch. movie listening.

With that said, I don't want to spend a fortune but I want to hear the benefit of my purchase. Where to look for a entry level vacuum preamp and how much should I be prepared to spend?

Thx
kooshballa

Showing 3 responses by wolf_garcia

wolf_garcia
6,598 posts
 
Pacific Valve sells something inexpensive called the "YS Audio A1" that looks killer as does the remote "V2R"...their "Doge 8" seems pretty cool also, and is well regarded. The "Jolida Fusion" is also a sweet preamp...I've heard one of those and it sounds amazing.
wolf_garcia
6,598 posts
 
True...if you have a zebra striped amp, you gotta have zebra striped speakers.
wolf_garcia
6,598 posts
 
I use SS into a tube amp only because I have a very low noise and capable preamp (and phono preamp), and because it's what I had when I bought the tube power amp. It sounds fabulous. I'm not sure the paranoia about preamp matching is justified though as I bet most tube preamps match fine with most power amps, but then what is the point of this forum if not to allow geekdom to engender fear and suspicion? I like it. Keeps me from becoming too relaxed. Also, I use balanced cables from the preamp (and the DAC feeding it) just because they're generally a little quieter.
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