CATSL1 best pre under 3K?


Is a CAT SL1 preamp the preamp to buy used under 3k or are there better
dvdgreco

Showing 5 responses by grannyring

DaveyF

I challenge you to a dynamic preamp throw-down! If you are near MN I will
bring my Dude over or you bring your CAT over my place. Are we on?!

Dynamics are SOTA in my Dude. Never heard better in this area. I
would love to be proven wrong or set you straight:)

Let's do it! We will post the result for all Agoners to read.

I hope you are close as I can't bring 70 plus pounds of electronics on a
plane!

You have a very nice system and well thought out room. Congrats.

This is all in good fun and I am open to such a throw down for fun and to
meet other Aphiles.
Also for the poster I have owned and listened to more preamps over the past years than you could imagine. All in my system and room. Many costing up to $12,000 new as I have been fortunate to sell gear for several high end audio friends. Without exaggeration I have listened to and compared at least 20 highly touted and highly reviewed preamps over the past 10 years....perhaps more as I lost count.

The ones mentioned are all very good indeed.... like Coincident & CAT. Others like Tom Evans Vibe, Tom Evans Soulmate, various Joule units, Atmasphere, Audio Horizons, CJ, etc...are also very good. But, in terms of which ones can be had at $3,000 and under, not sure you can get some of these like the Dude or Coincident.

The two best I have heard (in my system) under $3,000 would be these and in this order....

Audio Valve Eklipse ......absolutely a sleeper used.

Tom Evans Vibe alone and even better with Pulse power supply. But the power supply may be out of your budget.
Too bad Daveyf. In terms of your friend's system, if he had a power amp that had an input impedance under 60K, that was the issue. Dude as a high(ish) output impedance....poor match. Something was not quite right I am confident. Just been around the block too much on this sonic attribute with preamps.

I use my Romulus cd/dac because I like it better than analog. Others would never use digital based on personal taste.
To buy a newer Dude. I have owned 3 Dudes in total. The latest has a
better chassis, improved power supply, larger transformer .....

Ha, I love the current Dude! See my system to see my super Dude!
Understand few are sold compared to the big or even medium boys. Few are willing to try gear from small one man companies . Too bad as the very best gear I have owned over the past 30 years comes from very, very small companies of one or a couple of folks.

I sold my two Dudes within a week of listing each time. However , my feedback is stellar.