Looking to upgrade my preamp, suggestions?


Decided it is time to try out a newer preamp, have upgraded everything else over last couple of months bar this so...
Present pre is an ARC LS2 with gold lion tube and herbies tube damper.
Rest is Esoteric sa-50, bat vk600se and b&w 804d.
Listen exclusively to rock music, old and new
Important to myself, solid bass, vocals and soundstage, a remote might be nice too...lol
Thinking along the lines so far of bat vk32se, a newer ARC like ls17 or 27. Yes all tubes
Suggestions along solid state lines please?
budget is about 3500 max
Prefer to hear from actual owners of preamps suggested for your actual experiences
thank you all in advance 
128x128uberwaltz

Showing 8 responses by uberwaltz

@randy_11
The arc ls2 only has one tube and yes it was fairly new and a big improvement over the old one.
i tried both dig inputs through the cd player and through the c48 but stuck with the c48 as just about every input whether digital, rca or balanced sounded very very similar, whereas there was a noticeable difference on the older arc depending on whether rca or balanced input.
Not saying the c48 is the last word in sound but for me with the convenience of the digital inputs(5 in total) two sets of xlr ins and rca inputs, plus mm and mc phono inputs and a headphone out...and a remote that also controls my mvp851....
well just a lot of convenience factors that were also very hard to ignore there!
 Had quite a few hours with the C48 now and can sum up a little better.
Life with the LS2 was good but cd fed through its balanced inputs always sounded just a little forward, bright and aggressive, not terrible but compared to vinyl fed through rca it was very noticeable. The vinyl always sounded rich and warm and highly detailed.
Well the c48 manages to pull that off with every different input whether it is cd through balanced, vinyl through rca or the bluesound vault2 through digital coax. Everything sounds very warm and natural, very highly detailed and one track in particular I was listening to last night by Rush ,with my eyes closed ,startled me as it sounded like Geddy was singing to me personally over my right shoulder!
So far I am of the impression that the C48 is doing what a good preamp should and that is imparting negligible  sonic influences on the actual music.
Combine that with all the convenience factors of built in phono, headphones and 4 digital inputs and I would say I have just what I was looking for.
Oh and the remote, keep my backside in the sofa now!
@rwwear
You are correct, the ARC LS2B IS an excellent preamp and one I have enjoyed for near on 4 years but it was time for a change and convenience.
The ARC is now for sale right here for much less than I paid so hopefully somebody will snap it up, enjoy it as much as I did and get themselves a very good buy in the process!
Thank you everybody for your valuable input.
Yes I was drawn to another ARC like an ls26 or 27 but with the feature set of the C48 filling EVERYTHING i needed I gave it a whirl.
And what a whirl, already have it set up to my liking and yes I am liking it a lot.
Definitely tube like, warm, not sterile and plays MY music just how I like it.
The phono stage is particularly impressive for a built in one, better than the seperate phono pre I was using previously.
Time to stop spending money for a while......
I decided to go with some convenience factors as well just to reduce the amount of "boxes" all connected up!
Went with a McIntosh C48. which has yet to arrive so hopefully not a bad choice, but this will allow me to get rid of the phono preamp, the headphone amp and to plug the digital inputs from the tv and the Vault direct into the Mac rather than going through the Esoteric.

Sometimes it cannot all just be purely what is the best sound but a compromise as well.
Hopefully the sound will not be a compromise but will soon know!
@milby1 
I did see the audionet unit earlier and was interested in it. How long have you had yours and what do you pair it with?
has anybody any experience with mcintosh c48 preamp?
just looking at that it seems to cover all bases with dig inputs, mm and mc phono and headphone socket
a nice looking all in one but cannot find a single review anywhere
@sbank 
yes the vk51se is also on my hotlist, although as it only has balanced inputs i was considering the vk32se more just for convenience
however i know bat make the xlr to rca adapters so always a way round things