Please recommend Tube pre-amp(s)

Re: Pjpoland's comments of 04.11. One of tube gear owner's pasttimes is "tube rolling"--auditioning tubes other than those supplied in original equipment--to find audio nirvana. As Plsl says 0n 04.12, we may revert to the manufacturer's choice because the preamp or amp was "voiced" with that particular brand/model tube and a different choice sounds no better, or many times degrades the sound. Again, what sounds good to one person may not to another, and that brings up the second point made by plsl--the difference in the way he and his wife hear a piece of equipment or a tube change, even though both enjoy a live performance together. I believe this is a common experience. My wife, as with the vast majority of females, has more acute hearing in the upper registers as we age, and is extremely sensitive to glare, grain and other artifacts produced by audio equipment. She listens closely and at length to any proposed equipment, speaker or wire purchase, as well as to different tubes I might try, and makes reasoned comments. If I change wire or tubes without her knowledge, she immediately notices any difference that may be apparent and will make comparisons. It's a medical fact that males tend to lose response to highs much earlier than females and as a rule, women tend to enjoy more pronounced bass than men. The continued deterioration in male hearing acuity may be responsible for some equipment and speakers having a pronounced or "bright" treble component that is immediately noticed by women, as the overwhelming majority of audio gear is designed by men. This brings up a third point--all reviews of audio gear appear to be done by males. How good is their hearing after the age of 10-12, which is considered by audiologists to be the pinnacle of audio acuity. It would be interesting to see the graphs of audiological tests taken by reviewers from the top audio magazines, and how their hearing ability compares to the 10 to 12-year-old ear. Such enlightenment might give us greater insight to their reviews.

Most audiophiles are male, and generally spend more time listening to the system than their wives. So, why would you want to gear the sound toward her preference? I dispute yours and your anectdoatal "audiologists" claim that men loose more high frequency sensitivity than do women as they age, or that acuity deterioration begins to occur at age 12 in males. This has not been my experience (with myself, or in scores of others I've known), and I feel that sensitivity loss has more to do with non-gender specific genetics. And even MORESO, you must take into account how much noise exposure either the man, or the woman, has endured cumulatively through their life. I FEEL THIS IS A CASE OF GUYS JUST NEEDING TO GET APPROVAL OF THEIR AUDIO EXPENDITURES FROM THEIR WIVES, more so than that their wives are critical listeners, with "trained ears" that somehow have superior sensitivity in ANY of the frequency range. I've never met a woman who could hear as well as me in any aspect, or was as interested in listening critically to music on an audio system as I am. It's fun to experience other things with them, though...Anyway, women generally find musical fulfillment in radically different ways than male audiophiles do, IMHO, and I've never seen any real evidence that begins to refute this. Have you? And it's not just an issue of them not being as interested in "electronic gadgets", either. It's that they don't see a point in sitting and listening to recorded music...Just like I don't see a point in gardening as a hobby, or following "high fashion" clothing. And interestingly (aside from gender observations), HAVE YOU EVER MET AN AVID AUDIOPHILE WHO WAS ALSO AN AVID GOLFER? The two obsessions don't seem to have room for one another. That's just been a curiousity of mine, since I've never heard of any...but golfers are certainly as taken with it as audiophiles are with audio/music, it practically controls them like a substance addiction. ANYHOW, WE ALL CAN REVERT TO OUR OWN ANECTDOTAL "EVIDENCE" IN HOPES TO PROVE SOME POINT, but it generally doesn't do much of anything to sway the opinions of others, since they know what they experience first hand. SO PERHAPS THIS HAS FALLEN ON DEAF EARS, I dont know.

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.

Carl. How foolish of me to attempt any discussion of hearing anomalies, as you have the answers. It's unfortunate that few adults hear sounds to 20K as you do, and I'm sure all of us wish we, too, had "golden ears." Certainly many factors, including genetic makeup, job-associated noise, illness and other factors cause loss of hearing acuity. My comments were based on discussions with three respected audiologists when I sensed a softening of extreme highs in one ear and sought expert answers. As to "guys needing approval for audio expenditures from wives," I, like you, am sure this is an issue with some in the hobby. My wife comparing the sound of hardware or commenting on the difference in presentation has nothing to do with critical listening; it has to do with her perceptions as they compare to mine. The comment was made in reference to plsl's statement that he and his s.o. have different preferences in hardware--the raison d'tre we own different equipment. A final point: my wife doesn't garden, has no interest in high fashion apparel, and doesn't play golf. She does, however, listen to music on our system whenever she gets the chance--attentively and responsively--for the sheer enjoyment it offers. By the way, the hearing problem I referred to earlier cleared up. My last audiology graph was "normal." Good listening!