Sleeper preamps: $500 new/used

I have 2 favorites: Classe 30 for around $400 or a Sumo Athena for about $250. They both sound awesome with nice phono. I really like the MFA better than both of these plus it promotes tube rolling. The problem with the MFA is dual volume controls can be annoying. The Classe has remote, sumo does not.

I second the vote for the Conrad Johnson PV10 tubed pre-amp.

Chuck

ARC SP 9 MK2- Use NOS tubes. I had some Amperex 7308 USN-CEP. Keep in mind that this unit is a Hybrid. Uses tubes for output. Great phono with a lot of gain. Can be had around 600.

Eagleman

Conrad Johnson PV-5. A Classic. The only reason that you can find one for $500 is because it was very popular during it's production run. At least 3 TAS and one Sterophile reviewer used them as reference preamps during the eighties.

I don't care much for the PV10 although I like a lot of other CJ equipment. I think the McIntosh C712 is a much more enjoyable preamp. For about $600, the C712 is flat-out excellent. I did head-to-head comparisons with PV10, ARC LS3b, and Classe CP50. The Classe was definately the best but it is around $1000, the C712 was second, then PV10, then LS3b. IMO and in my system. Arthur