Need rec on $500 preamp
I would very strongly recommend looking into Mapletree Linestage 2SE for about $800. I had another opportunity to listen to it tonight and am seriously considering one for my other system. Its is one of the better values out there....if not the best. IMO Mariusz |
This one looks very cool - hand-built and only $598: http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1226209999&/Audio-Experience-Symphonies-Plus-tube -RW- |
I tried a number of well-built tube pres in your price range (bought used) and settled on a Luminous Audio Axiom passive volume control, plus a Niles AXP-1 source selector switch (5 inputs, 1 output), connected by about 10 inches of cheapo silver-plated copper interconnects a friend built for me. Total cost is well under $200, new, and humbled everything else I used here. The purity of tone, the dimensionality, the openness, the speed of the Luminous unit is truly astounding, even filtered through the no-doubt contaminating Niles unit. I've never needed more gain with music (some movie soundtracks max out the volume knob, but it's pretty loud at that point). Just my two cents, had to throw it out there, because the Luminous unit (bought used here, with upgraded resistors, for about $80!) has dramatically affected my enjoyment of two-channel listening -- for the better, and for a song (ha ha). Best of luck to you in your audio journey! |
I can't completely ditch the tuner unless I can find my three fav local stations through that Squeezebox thing. I have been toying around with converting all my CDs to some type of lossless format (don't know which yet) so having the USB might be desirable. Especially considering that I have the PC in my audio room the wife won't let me have an audio only room :-( I have looked at the preamp but I wish it had more analog inputs. I need one for SACD (so it doesn't get converted to PCM), one for my TT, and one for a Tuner (although I may get one of those Sangean HD Radio tuners which can carry the signal over optic/coax...I wonder if it will do the same for my analog only stations...) Thanks for the recs., keep 'em coming I will start doing my research. |
If you are considering the Benchmark DAC, maybe just consider the newer Benchmark DAC Preamp. This has digital and analog input capabilities and might have everything you need for ~$1500 or so, but the cost is marginal compared to just the Benchmark DAC, especially if you need USB. You would need to add a phono pre-amp also for this. |
