Preamp suggestion for Coincedent M300B Frankenstein mk2

Very interesting, didn't know there was a MkIII version! Israel also changed heater resistor values from .22uf to .33uf in latest versions of Statement. This change made to insure greater reliability, life from the few quality 101D tubes available today. Present production 101D tubes are somewhat fragile, this should help.

For those with Statement really only two present production 101D  top notch, those being Psvane WE and Linalai Elite Solid plate, the mesh plate version had some mid range glare in my setup. All other present production 101D not in same league with transparency, resolution. I may try NOS Western Electric at some point, one needs adapter for these, original 101 used four short equal size pins, new 101 longer pins and two larger diameter.

@sns 

I had given thought 6 or 7 years ago to getting an adapter and trying vintage Western Electric 101Ds. They were/are relatively rare and expensive. I was very happy with the Psvane W.E. Replica 101D and decided to stay put. If you do go that route let me know what you hear.

Charles

@charles1dad I was prepared to go route of NOS WE at point I was having issues with 101D reliability. I had experienced failures of recently purchased Psvane WE and Linlai Elite, one WE and one Elite failed at about 75 hours in Statement, and two DOA failures of each type purchased direct from Chinese sellers. One of my Linali Elite failures (75 hour failures) was Grant Fidelity purchase so easy warranty coverage.

 So, while Grant Fidelity purchase was warrantied, I received refund rather than replacement. One may ask why refund rather than replacement? This due to poor quality/excessive failures of Linlai Elite. I was told production has temporarily ceased while Linlai gets 101 quality under control, Rachel not selling these at the moment. Israel also mentioned to me poorer quality of Chinese 101D tubes since pandemic. This due directly to pandemic, or is it change in operations of both Psvane and Linlai since founders of Linlai left Psvane?

Anyway, thought I should mention my recent experiences with 101 tubes in this thread. I should also mention since I changed out heater resistors to .33uf 1/% tolerance not a single peep of noise from my Linlai's that were previously noisy with .22uf 5% tolerance resistors. Recall, newer production Statements all use .33uf, insuring durability of 101 reason for this change.

Charles, on side note, don't want to hijack thread,but I believe you've been using Duelund Cast PIO in some of your components to good effect. Recently went from Audyn True Copper Max and Miflex KPCU  to Duelund Cast tinned copper in custom build 300B's. Wow, Cast relegates all other audiophile film caps I've tried to distant second place!

Recently went from Audyn True Copper Max and Miflex KPCU  to Duelund Cast tinned copper in custom build 300B's. Wow, Cast relegates all other audiophile film caps I've tried to distant second place!
 

Yes, thanks to good advice from grannyring years ago who suggested them for my Coincident speaker crossover and my DAC. The Duelund CAST Cu foil capacitors have been superb for me. Expensive capacitors and worth every cent. I’m not surprised by your terrific results.

Charles

@kennyc I have owned the coincident Frankensteins, coincident Dragons, coincident line stage and coincident phono stage.

I didn't care much for the coincident phono as a preamp, it sounds sterile like a passive preamp or like going dac-direct. Sound loses body.

The coincident line stage was better, but I did not like it as much either. I tried it with the stock tubes. It was not that much better than the coincident phono. Later after I sold it I was told that it sounds better if you replace the stock tubes with the psvane alternative.

The best preamp I liked with the Frankenstein 300b was the Shindo Monbrison. It's probably the best sound I have had in my system till date, I was dumb to have sold the Monbrison when I moved across the pond (I should have rewired to 230V, in hindsight).

You can get a used Monbrison for $6000, if you look hard enough, and bonus, it comes with a world class built in phono.

Just my two cents and my experience. Cheers and good luck.