While my aesthetics Callisto pre eclipse was in for service (7 months) I bought an LS16 modes by Steve Huntley of the great northern sound co. It was the same price as a new ls17 that I was lusting over, but I took a chance. I was amazed at how good a $2k used pre could sound compared to my $6k aesthetics. I have had the aesthetics back for a month and haven't bothered to hook it up. BTW just run RCA, balanced just gives more gain that people like because they get more volume. But that comparison is for another posting. Although, if you have grounding issues, balanced does help. For 2k you could also try the Ayre K-5xeMP for around - solid state but dead silent. Just my 2 cents, ymmv - happy listening.
Preamp for audio research ref110
Hi, just purchased an arc ref110. My current preamp is an arc sp9 mkii. Unfortunately it doesn't have balanced outputs (why do they sell them like that? given that most of their amps need balanced). I am looking for a short term and long term solution. For the short term I would like to at least test the amp with a minimum of investment (as I need to wait until the purse reloads). So my questions are: is there anyway to use what I have for a while? And what would be a good longer term solution hopefully under 3k. And by the way I use records so I need a phono solution. Thank you all in advance.