Need some recommendations on Tube Preamps


I recently bought a pair of magnapan 1.6QR which are outstanding speakers. Although this may not have been beneficial for me but when I auditioned the system used was accompanied with a tube preamp. I currently have solid state Bryston BP20 and 3BST system. Sound is great but tube preamp was sweet sounding. My question is what would you folks recommend for a tube preamp paired up with a Bryston 3BST? My price range would be around $2000.00 and my listening pleasure is opera or classical! thanks
birdiewins

Showing 1 response by pedrillo

Glad to see opera is appreciated here by a goner.
If I may, I would like to make a suggestion: get the source right first before making changes down the chain. You will not regret it. Hope your source is vinyl, otherwise whatever the source is I would suggest bring it to the highest level you can afford. You will be shocked at how no matter what level your amp and preamp are at, a good source will be more beneficial then upgrading the other components.
When you decide to upgrade the amp and pre later on, you will be doing it knowing your source is to your liking.
An example may help convey the significance of what I am describing. I was considering a few upgrades in the recent past. One of them was to get a better speaker some time in the future. But for the time-being I was upgrading my turntable and phono stage. It was just a matter of time and a number of tweeks that I started to realize that my speakers were much better than I had thought. All this planning to get better speakers was due to not having a source good enough, but now I am only planning on making the source even better!
If in realestate they say location location location, in audiophile it would be source source source!