$18k Tube preamp for large scale symphonies please

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.

Phillip,
Reading your posts and various impressions it seems you have very astute and musical ears. I get the sense you really love music and enjoy listening to it.Between the CSL and VAC SIG. it could simply come down to what amplifier you use and the make up of your system.

Both are ultra music makers and would make you very happy and content. Once you get to a certain level of performance it`s the little things you notice that will provoke a choice one way or the other. What`s the chance of getting both into your system, listen and just see what happens? Your ears will eventually decide.Both are fabulous, neither is 'perfect'.
Charles,

Phillip, What you are talking about here is low IM (InterModulation) distortion in the preamp.

Its one thing to have low noise, that is the noise floor with no signal. Its another thing to not have the preamp editorialize with the signal. That is the low IM distortion.

You need very clean power supplies and good bandwidth, plus a simple and linear active circuit to get there.

One thing that you may not have considered is the effect of the interconnect on the sound of the system. Interconnects can contribute to the 'dark background' aspect as well. It is the job of the line section in the preamp to control the interconnect cable. Most preamps whether active or passive do a poor job of this. What is ideal is if changing the cable makes no difference at all regardless of the cable.

You will not find such a preamp that uses RCAs but they do exist if the preamp is balanced (the balanced line system was created to eliminate interconnect cable artifacts). Something to think about....