$18k Tube preamp for large scale symphonies please


hi, can anyone suggest tube preamp that's good for handling complex music & large scale symphonies recordings in studio/ theatres? i had audition some: Aesthetix, CJ ,Modwright, Audio Note, ARC but all seems lacking in some ways and definitely not enough air at top octaves and instruments separation/ spaciousness. all dealer agrees that some pre is good at certain genre of music and sound Great even more if music is relatively SIMPLE like vocal, jazz, light acoustic, slow rock and maybe pop songs. Yes i know personal taste varies as well: bass strength & high freq. extension etc. & gears matching too. could anyone share their expreience so i can narrow down a list? my music typically: Van Hellsing & Princess Mononoke movie soundtrack. hope dealers provide constructive comments. Thanks All in advance. -phil
philipwu
hi Charles, sorry to bother you with questions again.
With some audition experiences, i found out there are 2 types of distinctive background silence. First type: imagine yourself on a huge plateau of grassland or perhaps on Antarctica (going for extreme!) where there's miles of open space, no walls,no civilizations, no birds & crickets sound, maybe wind you can feel but no sound of it. There's nothing to hear, pure absolute silence(seen such places on National Geographic!) Now if a live band is playing on such place, what you hear is music notes with its extension/decay and air around instruments (music float in space,no blurry imaging). We hear this music emanates from this "air of quietness" or ambience so to speak, no reflected sound or reflected harmonics. Coincident Linestage is few hair strands close to this type of silence where music emanates from, do you agree?
Second type(most common), imagine yourself alone in a closed hall/theatre (either big or small), and there's no sound. Now this silence you get is definitely different from the quietness you encounter in the first type, right? Sometimes if the hall is small enough,the silence may cause ringing in your ear. If the same band(from the plateau example) playing the same music in this venue(well design & properly damped), we'll hear a nice soundstage & its reflected sound, however, overall music would sound different from the former right? as the music it emanates from has a different type of silence, right? i think this type of quietness which we "hear" are generally refer as dark/black. Also tonally refer as tip down, IMHO, since the reflected sound is losing energy and the effects we hear is more of lower,tone down reverberation??
Charles,i heard VAC signature and it exhibit much less of this "tone down" silence characteristic compared to others, is this silence what you hear too?
Hello Phillip,
Not sure if I completely understand your analogy.The CSL is very quiet but in a nautral sense,as opposed to an artificial or over done 'black' background. What did you think of the CSL compared to the VAC Signature? Both are superb but different.I could be very happy with either.
Charles,
Charles,Yes! i understand your meaning of an artificial or over done 'black' background. So, what i trying to say is many many audio gears have this artificial black/quiet background, and VAC has less of this. The reverberation of notes from VAC are organic,clean & light but not as light as CSL. VAC has more weight, sounds tonally downward as oppose to tip up/airy.
With this consensus in us, is the Dude's quietness background you heard belong to the "black" background as you said or somewhere between VAC and the neutrality of CSL?? Thanks for helping me.
Regards.
Phillip,
Okay, I see where you`re going better now. I think the VAC does sound a 'bit' richer and the CSL relatively 'lighter -airier'.But overall both get to the core and the soul of music and do so very deeply and with conviction(many components don`t). I believe a lot of the difference with these two are the intrinsic sound of their different tube types(9 pin minature vs 4 pin DHT tube)and different approach to volume control.Everything matteres and has an effect on sound.I find both just excellent at the special subtlties,nuance and inner detail.

The trade offs are very modest(no two components are identical). The VAC has a fuller tone and body(very slight margin) and the CSL a slight edge in transparency(again,very narrow margin).The thing is, both have superb tonality and transparency(minute differences aside).
In the big picture I just find them both top tier and most important, very natural and realistic.I can`t imagine someone displeased with either one.

I have`nt heard the TRL Dude with the CAST upgrade so I can`t comment.Knowing the baseline Dude and aware of what CAST can do, this would be something for you to consider also.
Regards,
Yes, thanks Charles.
You are spot on with what i feel towards VAC and i know you understand what i'm trying to ask about Dude. just a slight pity that i haven't have the slightest idea how does the Dude sounds. Glad you understands me anyway :-)
Thanks.