Tube Preamp
This is easy. Build or buy pre-assembled one of the top line models from tubes4hifi.com You don't say whether or not you have a turntable. If you don't, then get the SP14. Preassembled and tested it is $1350 plus shipping, well within your budget. Or build the kit for $960. There's a level of enjoyment you get from building your own that nothing else can match. If you need to have a phono preamp section, you could build one the outboard phono preamps they have, or do like I did and get the SP13 with their PH12 phono preamp. The board sizes along with the chassis space determines what is possible. The SP13 and SP14 are the same circuit, but have different, but electrically equivalent tubes. The SP13 uses 6CG7 tubes and the SP14 uses 6SN7 tubes. My SP13 is as good as any tube preamp I've ever heard, and it cost me a lot less than most all of the hi-end tube preamps. It's certainly the equal of a Mac C22 or Marantz 7. |
Within your budget, nothing can match a used Doge 8 preamp. It takes 4 x 12AT7 (line stage) and 4 x 12AX7 tubes (phono stage). It does both MM and MC. It is however, very dependent on which tubes you select. I had very good success with Siemens ECC81S (12AT7) in the linestage and Shuguang black bottle 12AX7 in the phonostage. YMMV. |
I have a Linear Tube Audio MZ2 paired with a Halo A21 and am very happy with the result. Lots of great reviews and comments here on Agon. The Aric Audio pre's have also been highly praised, but I have not heard them. |
