Top Ten Tube PreAmp of all time?

Jadis JP80mc, my favorite for years. A classical lover's heaven! Also the Aesthetix IO (haven't listened to the matching line stage, but if it's anywhere near as good, it should be included). The ARC SP-10 Mk II is also a classic. In the less expensive stuff, the Audible Illusions 3A. Everything else mentioned is also worthy-there's no shortage of fine tube preamps.

There are many who prefer the SP-10 (which I recall is a two-chasis unit) to the SP-11 in their MkII versions. The SP-11 was more neutral and had better deep bass, but certainly lacked the tube bloom and dimensionality of the SP-10. I had an SP-11 for 4 years, it was the first high-end preamp I'd owned. Back then, I was slowly being weaned from solid state to tubes, so I probably would not have appreciated the SP-10 as much as I do now. A classic case of tube vs. (hybrid) solid state preferences, I guess; your taste would decide which was "better". From the prices of used 10s and 11s, I'd say they're both held in high esteem by audiophiles. The SP-9 was ARC's attempt to make a budget SP-11 hybrid, and in its MkI version had mixed reviews; it certainly did not have a tubed preamp sound. I can say that the SP-15, which was the SP-11's replacement and had half as many tubes as the SP-11, never seemed to have the critical or popular success of either the 10 or 11. By the time it came out, I was growing enough in my appreciation of tubed equipment to prefer my SP-11 and resist upgrade fever. Had I been into the high end earlier and owned an SP-10, I probably would have resisted the urge to get an SP-11 as well.

Tubegroover: I would not doubt it; my JP80 is a pretty old design as well, and I'm not selling it soon (I heard somewhere it was similar in circuitry to the ARC SP6, but with a much better power supply and point-to-point wiring). A friend of mine redid his SP-10 with silver wiring and had a great-sounding pre (don't know if he still has it). Not a bad product to buy used and try a few upgrades on.

Martin, without a price range it's kind of tough to answer your question. There are plenty of suggestions in this thread above. If you listen primarily to classical or jazz, I'd suggest a used Jadis, but that's not cheap, even used; also, among the newer equipment, the Herron line and phono stages are excellent, with a very clean, detailed yet dimensional presentation. But I would not dismiss the thought of having your SP-10 modified by Great Northern Sound or another skilled modifier; I think that you'd find that may bring you a "state of the art" preamp as well. There isn't that much new in preamp circuitry that I've seen which would make your preamp obsolete, and I would expect that upgrades in capacitors, resistors and the like might give you the added clarity you're looking for without necessarily losing the character of the unit that you like. Just my opinion.....

Hey Detlof, I gather the I/O has broken in, or was it the cables that were the problem when you first started listening (I remember your posts on the Jadis Fidelity thread)? You still feel the I/O is a little colder?

The older JP200 had a phono stage; I gather this one doesn't. I also have listened to a JP200 and thought it the best full-featured preamp I'd ever heard; I would consider it over my JP80, but the cost!!!!!!!!!!!!