2. amps-preamps
  3. 1402500030

Need advice on a tube line stage

I'm looking to add a tube line stage to the herd. It will partner with a Bryston 4B SST2 amp through Thiel CS2.4 and GoldenEar Triton 2 loudspeakers. Primary source is a Cambridge Audio 840C CD player.

Budget is ~ $1,500 up to maybe $2,500 (but that end of the budget would probably force me to sell my current Parasound JC2).

Some options appear to be:

Trancendent Sound Grounded Grid (new $900)
Audio by Van Alstine Transcendence 9 (new 1,400)
Modwright SWL 9.0SE (mint used $1,450)
Quicksilver Remote Control Line Stage (new $1,600)
Audio by Van Alstine FET Valve CF (new $1,900)
conrad-johnson Classic 2SE (new $2,200)
Audible Illusions L3 (new $2,500 with some $ voodoo)

I would like a slightly more liquid presentation than I currently get with my current rig. More "musical". I no longer value extreme transparency as much as I did, partially because I'm no longer mixing records and don't need my system to double as a reference. That said, I don't want anything overly soft or veiled.

Thoughts?
ja2austintx
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Ja2austintx
It will still work great, but you won't get a great impedance match with your amp, as it ratio will be around 1:1 It may ever so slightly act as a bottleneck and reduce the transient impact just a touch, but this will be so slight you may not even hear it.
And use low capactitance interconnects from it to the amp (which most quality ones are anyway) <100pf (picofarad) per foot.

A 10kohm passive with your amp would be better, and your source will drive anything being <50ohms output impedance.

It will still be interesting to hear what you think even with the 25kohm passive.

Cheers George
dsper
664 posts
 
Check out Prima Luna.

Separate power supplies for better imaging.

As with any tube preamp, the specific tubes will make a difference.
springbok10
711 posts
 
Second Eastern Electric Avant with nos tubes. So good that I can't decide whether to use my C-J Premier 14L or the Avant in my living room. It was really an ear opener to hear this small preamp at its price. Definitely under-hyped. It is a superb tube preamp and has balanced outs and one balanced input.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,927 posts
 
Is all/most Eastern Electric gear that good?

What do they do different I wonder?
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,164 posts
 
We just added a less expensive preamp to our lineup. The line section version retails for $1900.00... There is a review of it on EnjoytheMusic.com
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