Best Preamp For $1200 Used

GO WITH AN AUDIO RESEARCH LS2, LS2MK2, LS2B, OR LS2BMK2,(REMOTE CONTROL WAS AN OPTION ON THE UNITS). THESE UNITS WILL BE MUCH MORE CLEAR AND DYNAMIC THAN THE ADCOM PLUS THE AUDIO RESEARCH WILL ALWAYS BE IN DEMAND AND WILL NOT LOOSE MUCH MORE OF ITS VALUE THAN THEY ARE RIGHT NOW.I HAVE SEEN THE LS2 AT $800 AND LS2BMK2 AT $1200 SO TAKE YOUR PICK ANYWHERE IN BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MODELS. I PERSONALLY OWNED ALL BUT THE LS2MK2 AND HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH THE UNITS AS THE BUILD QUALITY IS MUCH BETTER THAN THE ADCOM IMHO.

.... Sonic Frontiers Line 1; neutral, detailed, smooth, and very well built-- should be available used for $1200-1300. Happy Hunting. Craig.

The Bryston BP-25 (not the 20) is a very musical, accurate pre-amp with useful features such as balanced and RCA in's and out's, and a nice headphone output. It is definitely in a class above the Adcom stuff. It has the sound of a tube preamp without any hassles. Talk about maintaining its value--it has a 20 year warranty! Much sweeter sounding than Audio Research gear.

the lastest version of the linn kairn, w/the "slimline" version of their brilliant power supply is absolutely awesome. great detail, transparancy, soundstage - width *&* depth, weyy neutral tonal balance. also unbelievably user friendly, w/great remote, two tape loops, 6 inputs (or 5, plus fono), three main outputs, and ability to run remote-room set-ups, or to be used w/a home theatre set-up, & not degrade the sound of your 2-channel stereo. i got mine for considerably less than $1200; i had an older linn w/brilliant p/s, was going to go to tubes, but i'm *way* happy w/this latest version.

The latest used or demo Audible Illusions M3A with upgraded tubes is a tough act to follow.Great detail,soundstage, sounstage depth,transparency, micro and macro dynamics, great bass ,smooth highs and outstanding mids .A full warm and natural realistic sound!Not tubey,not cold it does it just right,at least in my system it does, and my audio buddies love the sound,not bad since the two of them can be very critical .The M3 has been around since 1993 and has been refined every year.In 1996 it was so much improved that it became the M3A and refinements have occured each year,right up to the current model.The latest model ,no longer has the rep. of being a tube eater as this problem of limited tube choices has been solved! On the down side their service is very slow and as long as you do not need a phono upgrade you will not need to wait up to 3 months as others have.It has been so fine tuned with constant upgrades and top parts as well as built like a tank that service is a very rare possibility.It is a worthy contender in the $1200. price range.Some say that the L-1 is the same pre amp without the phono stage and this is wrong as the L-1 has not had all of the production upgrades of the M3A .Happy hunting.