Tube pre for Forte 4a

My Forte 4A works well with a Tube preamp however I was very pleasantly surprised how will it sound with the Channel Island Audio VPC-1 passive preamp. A real ear opener!

Thanks for the reply, Lak. (I've enjoyed your posts and have found them very informative)

The Channel Island preamp is fits EXACTLY with my audio philosophy. But I have tempered my view as I learn (read - become confused) about high-end audio. I am under the impression that an active preamp is a vital portion of the playback process. If this is not true for my system, then I'd love to ditch the headaches and go with something simple like the VPC-1. Therefore, could you go into a bit more detail on what I might expect to hear between the VCP-1 and, lets say the Cary designed AE-3 (and variants)?

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Best,

The 4a works great with Audio Research preamps. I had the LS2B - excellent combo.

Mprime,

Very nice looking system!

The Channel Island passive preamp let more details, imaging and bass into my room. I’ve tried this with my tube system and my two SS systems. I have to give Psychicanimal credit because he’s the one that shared this idea with me and actually brought his preamp over so that I could audition it in my system. I was impressed by it enough that I purchased one for myself. The price is right, new $249. You just have to be sure that your interconnects are no longer than 1/M, 1.5/M at the longest.