Recommendations for a tubed preamp

gabriel123

The interior of the Aric Audio components (all of his products look similar), is that way because it is "point to point wired" without the use of circuit boards.

By the way, the Don Sachs/Lynn Olson Raven preamp, and Supratek look very similar....and is common among specialty manufacturers. I actually like that, as it is much easier to repair, and the builder has control over the wiring used in the project.....no printed circuit boards.

@gabriel123 What an excellent idea! This is the way I went for quite a while, pairing a tube preamp with a solid state amp. I even paired mine with an amp a lot like your Coda, one of its’ technical predecessors - an Innersound Electrostatic amplifier, designed by Roger Sanders. Whenever it needed service I sent it to the guy that runs Coda. The Coda amps kind of fly under the radar, but they are incredible - well built, superb sounding, wonderfully performance-transparent. I think the Coda amps are some of the best built and best sounding power amps out there, for solid state. The iron fist in the velvet glove. 

So, you’ve already received many excellent recommendations on the tube preamps. There are many you would be very happy with. But before you make your decision, however, I encourage you to scroll up to the top of this Forum and check out the "Popular All-Time" threads. You’ll find one called "Preamp Deal of the Century". That thread lasted well over 20 years and has over 26 million views. That’s pretty incredible.

That thread is all about Supratek preamps. Custom built in Western Australia. They are wonderfully built, all point to point wired, sound superb, and are just are very solid performers. Oh, and they have a lifetime guarantee. 

I’m think you’ll be happy with whatever you choose. There are many, many excellent sounding tube preamps out there and many have been mentioned on this thread.

Best regards and best of luck,

Markus(used to be the naimnut)

@gabriel123 - I've got an Aric Super 6SN7 and I'm going to be sending that in to have that upgrade you noted (I don't have room for 2 boxes like the Motherlode). I bought my unmodified one used on USAM and am happy as can be with it, with Ray Reserve 6SN7 tubes, so I want to get it to sound as good as it possibly can. If I were you, I'd get that one you saw advertised. 

I’ve got an Aric Super 6SN7 and I’m going to be sending that in to have that upgrade you noted (I don’t have room for 2 boxes like the Motherlode). I bought my unmodified one used on USAM and am happy as can be with it, with Ray Reserve 6SN7 tubes, so I want to get it to sound as good as it possibly can. If I were you, I’d get that one you saw advertised. 

@larsman Thanks for your post. How would you describe sound character of your Aric Super 6SN7? Were you able by any chance to compare it to the LTA MicroZOZL? I’m currently on the fence about choosing one of them. My friend from Canada is coming to Europe and could take his LTA to check it out with my system but we’re not sure if there’s any easy way to switch voltage from 120V to 230V.

Conrad Johnson, get home theater bypass and I think they all have it but I’m not sure. gat2 would be ideal. I think they’ve got some more recent offerings that are a lot more expensive and probably overpriced. They seem really well built it’s a good company.

I looked into the cj mono amplifiers, but wanted solid state for the bass drivers. But maybe the tube amplifier would’ve been fine.