Options to replace Supratek Chennin Pre


Looking for suggestions for a replacement pre for my Supratek Chennin Preamp. I absolutely love most everything about this pre except in my system it is slightly lean. I would like to stay with tubes unless the nature of tube pres is to be a little lean. HT pass thru is a requirement. The Supratek has a HT pass thru and I love how simple it is to backdoor HT through the hi fi. Price range will be about $3,500.00 new or used. I want something that will retain or exceed the holographic, open, precise sound stage that the Supra offers but with more slam and extension in the bass. I recently pulled the pre out of the system and ran direct from the wadia 861 and bass slam was improved to an exceptable degree but obviously lost all benefits of tubes.
System:
Wadia 861
Supratek
Parasound JC 1s
Vandy 3A sig
2WQ subs
Audioquest Cheetah, Cardas Golden Cross intercon
Alphacore MI2 spk cable bi wired
braro

Showing 2 responses by audphile1

Aesthetix Calypso, Audio Research Ref2 could be within your budget, BAT 31SE.
Braro, it seems like your mind is set on changing the preamp, so here is a thread to check out by audiogon member PERFECTIONIST who runs Aesthetix Calypso with JC1s. You may want to check it out.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1123175230&openusid&zzPerfectionist&4&5#Perfectionist