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New Preamp Suggestion

A friend of mine is running a pair of Revel Salon 2's with a pair of Classe CA-M600 amps. His current preamp (Pass XP-10) is likely going to be traded. He wants to find a preamp that will give him the following:

1. Better instrument separation
2. More air around vocals and instruments
3. Tighter bass control
4. Deeper soundstage

Budget is $8000ish

Thoughts?

I was thinking a used ARC REF 5SE, but a better suggestion might be the Cary SLP-05. Obviously there are lots of great preamps out there. BAT, CJ, etc.

Thanks!
mbovaird
Post removed 
ilidra
21 posts
 
Emotive Epifania or cheeper Emotive Sira with V-caps would be nice
larryi
3,716 posts
 
Hm,

I have an Epifania with the Teflon caps. Currently, it is my backup linestage (at a friend's house). That friend is a builder/modifier and he has been fiddling with it (changing out the remotely controlled attenuator). I wonder how CAST coupling caps would sound vs. the Teflon. My Epifania is on the leaner/analytical side of what I want.
salectric
747 posts
 
Larry, I will soon find out about the Duelunds. I have a pair of CAST caps that will replace the V-Caps in my version of the Epifania.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,574 posts
 
If the Classe has balanced inputs, you might want to consider a preamp with balanced outputs. This works better for the amp and the cables involved.
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