What tube preamp to get to smooth out the sound?????


Hi have Wadia 850 cdp directly to pair of Odyssey Monoblocks, speakers are NHT 3.3's...Im very happy with the strengths of each component but recently sold a Adcom gfp 750 pre because all I listen to is CD, so I figure why not sell it and go direct..but the sound is not as good as when I had the preamp, direct sounds more hard/etchy , not as smooth as with the pre..I want to buy another pre but get something better than what I had before instead of SS was thinking of getting into tubes to get more warmth/smoothness I want to get rid of any harshness/etchines .... trying to keep it under 2k used, any suggestions from others who had this kind of problem I hear BAT is particulary good...
eantala
back to the origanal topic. tube preamp under 2k; jadis dpl, or maybe even a jpl. cat, conrad premiere 10. 7 b . vac. these to me are the most lush for under 2k. used of course.
try audible illusions modulus 3 A i picked one up at this site for 1100
ive also got an adcom 565 and the A I is a better pre amp not just spec-wise you can hear it it will smooth it out and actually give you more detail and put the vocals in their proper place and i have an extremely critical ear
but keep in mind nht s are a very very bright speaker

tony
I am very happy with the Audio Research tubed preamps that have the InfiniCaps, whether stock or as an upgrade. For me, they made listening to CDs so much better that I laughed out loud with delight at the difference they made! I started out with a modded LS-7 and soon after sold it and bought the LS-15 and the LS-16 for our two main systems. (The LS-15 and LS-16 come stock with the InifiniCaps, and have the added advantage of remote volume control.)

Direct-in CD players and even the finest passive attenuators can't overcome the inherent harshness of the majority of original digital recordings. Only a tubed preamp will help with that. Is that added warmth and smoothness artificial? Who cares!?! The alternative is either to throw away half my collection of CDs or run screaming from the room. :-)

Best wishes,

Mark H>