HELP WITH A PREAMP DECISION

The Veloce is a fantastic-sounding pre-amp. Very hard to top preamps like that or Esoteric C-02 or C-02X (both worth a look if you are hunting an alternative) or Ypsilon,.....but like others have said, look at the rest of your system as well to ensure you are not overlooking another key upgrade.

Thanks for all the advice. I guess it is time to do some listening to new equipment. I do not buy any new gear without auditioning the piece at home in my system. Some dealers do not do that. Too bad for them. The system sounds terrific. My listening room is 18' x 18' w a 10 ft. ceiling and extremely well damped--It is my library. I forgot to mention that I also use an HRS system for the shelving and amp stand. This single addition to the system made a bigger difference in sound quality than any piece of gear I have added to the system. For a variety of reasons I cannot move the gear around. I am considering a speaker cable upgrade but at the present time I am running 9 meters of cable under the floor to the speakers. It is an expensive proposition. Moving the amp and using longer IC cables would require some work by my contractor to modify some cabinetry. I am not eager to do this.

The amp is on its own dedicated 30 amp line, and the rest of the equipment is on two dedicated 20 amp lines. I got rid of the power conditioner about two years ago; it added a layer of its own to the sound. It became very clear after I added the HRS system to the equipment.

Frankly I think that the hardness I detect may just be from the last batch of CDs and SACDs I ordered from Elusive Disc. As you all know all CDs and SACDs sound different.Many of the recordings that I listen to sound fantastic. And let's face it, we all go through periods where one's system doesn't sound as good as one remembers---and then, voila, it sounds fantastic again.

By the way, the speakers never sound bright or hard, it is usually apparent on specific recordings.

I think the first order of business, the easiest, and the cheapest is to check the tubes in the Veloce, and try new tubes or other tubes. I can only guess at the hours on the tubes now but I would say 1000 hours, maybe 1500 tops.

Any more thoughts are appreciated.

Just the other day my system sounded off. The word "hardening" hadn't occurred to me but seems apt, especially on female vocals.
I reduced the toe-in on my Revel M20s by only a few degrees and everything snapped into focus. Smooth vocals back again.

Hunter: out of curiosity, do you have the original Veloce, or the later so-called "Lithio" model? I had both in my system, and the later version is dramatically better in every respect. It replaced a Lamm L2 Reference line stage, and I am still using the Veloce. I am running real DR tubes in it (not so easy to find, they are counterfeited with abandon). It works well in my system, with my ears. (Not meant to shill for Veloce).
Hope you sort it out.
bill hart

another vote for new batteries (first). and I would only consider batter operated preamps after having one.