Tube pre-amps $3500 under to add "warmth"

another vote for CJ, I used a Premier 17 mark 1 for 2 years. The best amp I have had, detailed but warm, wide deep soundstage. I only got rid of it because I went integrated. I can't comment on the differnce between mark 1 and 2, but my understanding is the change was because the existing capacitors were no longer available. A mark 1 will be well below $3500

Mrtennis, based on information contained in the manual, the primary difference between the early LA-100 preamps and the MkIII version was that the mu follower tube in the signal path was a 5751 (RCA black plate I believe was Jud Barbers preference) and this was changed to a 6350 (Sylvania NOS was the preference) when the MkIII came out. I would have to go back and read the manual, but I believe the original LA- 100 used 10EM7 tubes in the power supply and when they became somewhat obsolete Jud Barber changed the circuit so that later versions used 6EM7 tubes which were more readily available.

I doubt these changes would make a significant difference in the sonics of the different versions of the LA-100. In my system I found this tube preamp to be a bit more neutral than most tube preamps I have heard (especially versus my Cary SLP-98), with excellent extension at each end, and yes, a bit euphonic in the mids, but overall an extremely musical preamp. On the other hand the LA-150 MkI was a little too neutral and IMO lacked some of the musicality the LA-100 MkIII possessed. The LA-150 MkII has addressed some of these issues and instead of the Russian tubes in the signal path, use 6350 tubes.

I wish I still owned my Joule and I know that someday I will revisit and spend some more time with another Joule preamp. If you have the opportunity you should listen to one.

I owned the 5.5 it is slightly to the side of warm.. and is well balanced, you want better frequency extension and warmth overall... Look at the audio mirror PP1.. its under a grand new and definatley competes with the best on the market since they upgraded the wiring and caps to sonicaps in the newer versions.

Mitch,

Thanks for the tip on output impedence. My amps SS amp has an input impedence of 100k so need to keep it at 10k output impedence for the preamp then.

Gjames, at 100K ohms, you will fortunately be able to use most of the tube preamps out there without any sonic penalty. My amp has input impedance of only 10K ohms and was considerably more difficult to match. Have fun.