DECWARE.....ZTPRE anyone have any expeiriance with one ?

Larryi...excellent point about the in home trial. Decware does offer 30 days for trial and 10% restocking fee, so that would be about a $470.00 hit just to try it out. I would assume that they are so confident that you will keep it that they are right up front about the restock fee.I also have a Mcintosh 225 that has no on/off switch...so I am very used to unplugging it each time.I did have the opportunity to try an Audion pre amp with the CA400's and it sounded wonderful.

Al...Thanks for pointing that out, didn't even think to look at that. There is no way I am giving up my bottom octave. This is the age old problem of trial and error with changing components. Buy it, dump it, take the hit...buy it, dump it, take the hit. Deware has no dealers so I can't even give a dealer a deposit to try it out for the weekend. One would think however with the schematics posted, Steve Deckert would have been called out on this in his forums.Taking all of this into consideration (And this goes out to everyone) what are your recommendations for a tube pre for this setup. As a side note I really did like the idea of being able to set the output gain to my liking.

Thank you all for the input, I will continue with a little more research.

1241...that PDP pre looks pretty nice and he is passionate about his product. Noticed the speakers in the background.

Gentlemen....I may just bite the bullet and purchase both the Prima Luna and the ZTPRE....cut heads for 2 weeks and return one. I do have access
to Clio and could perform an RTA  to really check that bottom end on both.I am checking into PM's return policy now.

I really do enjoy these types of discussions as I can get so many educated points of view...then again that's why we all love this "hobby" (addiction, habit, relapsing disorder) so much :}
Have a great day,

Kevin