Which preamp is good for mcintosh mc275?

Any more input?

Hey Finity ;-) First, I must disagree with the Mac preamp recommendations. It's a fine sounding combo, don't get me wrong, but it's important to know (if you don't) that the sonic signature/character of a system is (at least) 80% the result of the amp + speaker. If you like the sound of a fine tube amp (I also have an MC275) the first thing I think you should do is obtain better tubes (than the stock ones) and do a little "rolling" to find out what you like best with your speakers. Once you've got that dialed in as good as you can, you should try a really fine balanced output tube preamp (minimum C500 if you want to stay in the Mac lineup, but you can get better for less money ;-) or a really fine ss preamp (again, you can do much better than Mac for the same or less money.)

I have found that a really quiet (and OK, and moderately expensive) ss preamp combined with an excellent tube amp yields the best performance combination of ambiance, image accuracy, detail and S/N ratio. I also caution that you CANNOT 'have your cake and eat it' by pairing a tube preamp with a ss amp - the ss amp sound will prevail -- as I explained in my remark about the amp + speaker combo; and from what you said in your opening remarks, an 'all-tube' system might require you take insulin ;-)
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In line with Nsgarch's comments, I have been finding that I like the counter-intuitive combination of my Spectral DMC6 pre-amp with my Mac MC-40's. The MC-40's have upgraded caps and NOS tubes and sound very good, but they are plenty "warm" enough and seem to like the very high-def (in another combination perhaps "dry") ss pre. This is in combination with Snell original "E"s.

I also concur with nsgarch. I use the latest SS klyne 7 system ( with balanced inputs and outputs) with my MC275 to great effect.

Neil, you'd never get away with this heresey over on the Karma....LOL ;-)!