Best Pre-amp under 2k-USED

I had an Adcom 750 for a couple of years and thought it was great. That is, until I heard the Placette.

Tubes may beat the living crap out of anything solid state, but you have to like the sound of tubes. The Adcom in passive mode does very, very little to the signal, which strikes me as exactly what it should be doing. On the other hand, maybe you like a pre-amp that makes the system sound more "musical." I have a First Sound and I understand the appeal. So, Say881, you should try to listen to a few examples from both camps.

If you can squeeze an extra 100 bucks out of your budget, you will do good to get yourself a Supratek Chardonnay. Quite easily one of the top preamps in the world today - at any price.

They sell new for $2100. Check out the website:

http://www.cantech.net.au/~supra/

Hope this helps.

The 750 is a great preamp. I owned some much more expensive preamps at the same time, and quite frankly the 750 was not put down to far by them. Since you want to integrate it into a home theater, I would make it my number one choice. It has a home theater pass through that allows you to use the volume control on your tv or ht receiver. If you can live without the ht, my two favorites under 2k are the pass labs aleph P, and the BAT vk-5i. I like all the bat preamps - I'm in with coltrane on that one. Nothing compares to their 30 and 50 SE line.

Ernie, i was not "slamming" any of the Pass designed gear in any way. If you've read more than a few of my posts, which i know you have, you would know that i am a BIG fan of Nelson's work and typically recommend his products whole-heartedly.

As to his preamps, my comments were primarily based on his older Threshold designs as i'm not real familiar with his current stuff. I'm sure that his newer products are good, given his knowledge, experience and parts quality that we have available today. In fact, i've had other people recommend his model "L" ( i think that's what it was ) to me for use in my Father's system. With that in mind, it is "commonly accepted" that the older Threshold preamps were "etched" sounding. If you took offense to what i said, i'm sorry. I probably should have clarified myself better.

In terms of prefering a "coloured" preamp, that is not my bag either. I have always been a "straight wire with gain" man when it comes to preamps. My normal preamps of choice have nothing more than a volume, balance and mode selector on them. Like Nelson's designs, they stress wide-bandwidth, speed and simplicity. Those are all basic design considerations that i look for when shopping for products. After all, the more circuitry that you have, the less "pure signal" you are likely to hear. Sean
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Auditioning gear is unfortunatly not an option for me so I'm trying to put togeather a system based on info gathered at audio sites(mainly this one) and reviews. Also, being a novice, I'm wondering if I have a sophisticated enough "ear" to tell the difference between a high end unit and something which audiophiles find lacking. Is there a big difference between my Adcom GTP-760 pre-proc. and a high quality pre-amp? When I upgraded my Cambridge Audio D-500SE cdp to the Arcam FMJ CD23 I heard what I BELIEVE to be an improvement in bass and in a sence of 3D spatial characteristics, but the difference was relatively small.

That being said, I find the music sometimes a little on the "thin" side and would like to get a heavier, more robust sound without losing detail and clarity. I also would like to get as much of a sence of space and precence as I can. I realize that my speakers are not up to snuff but I'm trying to get my electronics in order so that I can do justice to a really good pair.

Thanks again

Steve

P.S. I've noticed that after two posts on pre-amps, I've seen but one Krell recomendation. Should I infer anything from that