I guess I may be the only avid golfer who also loves the pursuit of audio enjoyment. Most of my listening is done after dark when I find it difficult to play golf. I also enjoy movies with my family and have recently setup a dedicated home theater with all solid state gear(Parasound amps, Yamaha DVD, Legacy speakers, Sony HDTV). However I still enjoy tube sound on my 2 channel system and to keep this somewhat on topic use a Bel Canto SEi 40 as my amp\preamp for Legacy Focus speakers. Nice sound and I got it used from a couple here that had it hooked up to a pair of Bose 901's. They couldnt understand why it made their "super fantastic" Bose speakers sound so bad. After confirming where they bought it and how old it was I took it off their hands for about one third retail! I had never had room to do 2 systems before but am very pleased to have made the investment. Next project is hopefully adding a pair of Cary 805's. That or bi amping with the Bel Canto 80 on low's and 40 on high's. Of course it is also spring and I have used the same set of irons for 4 years now and might be ready to make a change. Mizuno Pro 2's maybe? BTW my wife loves music and is a huge Elvis fan. She likes recordings where you can here him breathe or talk low to the audience. IMHO nothing does vocals like tubes.
Please recommend Tube pre-amp(s)
I've listened to, and liked the Conrad Johnson PV 12 (a bit under $2,000) and really liked the Conrad Johnson Premier 14 ( $4,300?). However the Premier 14 is a lot of money, and we wouldn't even have listened to it except it has a remote control which my wife insists on, and then she fell in love with the higher quality sound of the Premier 14. I've listened to solid state gear from Rowland, Ayre, Classe and Krell none of which I liked although I thought the Rowland was incredibly precise, detailed [and lifeless.] The only other tube gear I listened to was the BAT preamp/amp combination which didn't do it either - I thought the sound was kind of dark and a bit dry emotionally. We felt that the CJ sound was very open, inviting and involving - we felt like part of the emotional experience of the music. I'm quite new at this and it seems like the preamp has a large effect on the overall character of the sound of the system, at least more so than the power amp. So far I have a Cal Audio CL 10 5 disk CD player and a Conrad Johnson DA-2b D to A converter plugged into my soon to be replaced old receiver and speakers. I have no plans for vinyl, so I'm looking for recommendations for line stages. What preamps can you recommend in the $2k to $4k price range with remote controls? The two dealers who had the CJ line said CJ has a distinctive sound - do you agree? If so, how would you characterize the sound from other amplification companies' equipment - like VAC, etc. etc.