good preamp for dynaco mk3 monoblocks with maggies

Even if the the SP11 needed work, it has more potential than the PAS3. The 11 is not particulary fussy about tubes and they can be had cheap. Caps and what ever else it needs can be done over time.

Sbrown, If you are going to refurbish an older ARC preamp, the SP-10 is a better choice.

As always, there are tradeoffs between the two. I think the 10 is the better sounding of the two with the following two caveats. First, the 10 is far picker about tubes than the 11 and uses a lot more of them. That’s the reason why I sold mine. I decided that I didn’t want to feed it. The other issue with the 10 it’s harder to clean up its line level inputs. With the 11, you can use the bypass switch with both the line and phono sections while with the 10, that only works with the phono. As a result, the 10 doesn’t sound so hot through line level in stock form. You have to go through and disconnect a bunch of the front panel clap trap. I believe that’s what GNS did in when they modified those.

Could well be. But the 11 had troubles of its own. I think you are better off getting an old Citation 1 and getting it refurbished, or going the route I suggested with updating a PAS-3. Either way you wind up with a better sounding preamp if the work is done properly.

Thanks for all of your input. I looked into what has been offered. Was tempted by that SP11 for 1100...but given its age and more likely needing refurbishing, I realized I cant afford it. I was looking at PAS3 also. I read good things about updated PAS3's. Given that 80% of my music is in digital form on laptop, I came to a conclusion that I dislike wires in my living room, and having to connect and disconnect everytime I wanted to listen to music. All this time I was also researching about network players. I went to stereotypes hifi audio store here in portland OR and auditioned the Naim na-172xs. Its a preamp and networkplayer in one unit. It sounded great! ok they had $4k dollar nordost valhalla flat speaker cables connected to ProAc D20R through Audio Research VT100MKIII amp. I liked the ability to use digital media through network and also the preamp capability. BUT ofcourse I cant possibly afford $2700 for the NAC 172xs. (I know Im way in the weeds now, far from my Original post, but bear with me, Im still in search of preamp) soo...I began looking around and Viola! I stumbled on Music Fidelity M1clic. Its similar in capability to Nac 172XS. I know M1clic is not Naims Nac 172XS BUT it was $500.00 at music Direct! Originally M1clic is 2000$ Retail. Ok I know retail prices are inflated at times but i looked online and here on Agon and found M1clic for sale for $600.
so In my mind this looked like a good deal. I thought about it a good time...do I go with tube pre and deal with wires in my living room everytime( I put my laptop on coffee table and run usb to dacmagic then to my Dynaco MK3 amps) or get a streamer that uses Musical Fidelity dac and preamp?(and get a remote) it was decided by me to buy the M1clic and I used the remaining money to invest in better speaker cables and interconnects. I was using 12ga rocketfish(ok dont laugh) speaker cables and I dont know what brand interconnects.( ok laugh) I bought Kimber Hero Interconnects and Kimber 4TC Speaker cables. Given my budget limit It was best deal for me. all in all the total was $964.00. no shipping fees from musicdirect. Cables were bought at my localy.
well let me tell you that I couldnt be happier. Yes I know I originally wanted Tube preamp but I couldnt pass up a deal like that and not to mention the convenience. If some paid $2k for the m1clic and Im sure Im not the only one that owns it, I thought it would be worth 500 dollars. also the fact that m1clic went up in price 200$ after i bought it from MusicDirect, makes me feel better. so far I really like what I hear and I have been listening to much more music without cable connecting hassle and people not tripping over them and sending my dacmagic or laptop flying across the room. on a side note the dacmagic is very sturdy. well thats my story and i appreciate all that contributed really.