Are there any $1500 tube preamps that that can compare with Tubes4hifi's SP14?

Hi
Don Sachs here.  I am not trying to sell anyone anything and don't want to violate any of those sorts of rules so I will give my opinion.  I have built and sold over 40 custom preamps built around the sp-14 board.  My opinion is that if you take that board and use really good parts, wire, and attenuators you get a preamp that will compete with anything I have ever heard at any price. You cannot do it for $1500 though.  More like $1800-$2200 depending on the case, cap and tube choices.  It will run circles around a stock sp14, which is already a great bargain and wonderful preamp.  That said, that extra $300-$700 is money well spent and will give you easily a 20-30% improvement.  I have my own opinions on coupling caps and have heard many.  The beauty of the sp14 is that there is really only one coupling cap and that is on the output.  The rest is direct coupled except for the small cap on the Akido buffer and a decent cap is all you need there. The preamp should be tailored to match the rest of the system.  Impedance matching is important.  I have built passive preamps with very good attenuators and my opinion is they are nice, but a good tube preamp makes the music just leap out of the speakers in a way no passive preamp I have ever heard can.  I have a number of customers who went from passives to an active tube preamp based on octal tubes and never went back.

Also, I have probably worked on 1000 pieces of audio gear in the past decade, both vintage restorations and lots of custom builds.  I have my opinions on which resistor types sound best where, what caps to use where, etc... Everyone has their taste.  What I can say is that I prefer the 6SN7 and other octal tubes in a preamp over ANY of small 12A*7 types I have ever heard.

Good luck to all and happy listening.

cheers,
Don

I built the SP-14 from kit from Roy-
He was very patient, answered all my questions-including where to upgrade, I couldn't be happier!

Since Don Sachs won't brag himself up, I will. My SP-14 has gradually morphed (as time & funds have permitted) into a DS-1, and now we're getting ready to bring it up to his current line of DS-2s. Jupiter coupling caps, Dueland wire and film caps. The DS-1 was a step-level improvement over the original SP-14, which was a very sweet sounding pre-amp to begin with. Don's a delight to work with, too. He and Jim McShane have been restoring H-K Citation amps for years, so he knows a thing or two about great sound.

I believe that the Don Sachs and the Linear Tube Audio ZOTL preamplifiers would be a very interesting comparison. Both use the revered octal 6SN7  as opposed to the smaller 9 pin signal tubes.
Charles

As with Deepee, I have had the caps upgraded for a modest cost and the sonic improvement was exactly as Don portended.  His latest improvement is to employ the very fine Dueland wire for the internal wiring.  I have a a stock SP-14 in my bedroom system which is very good, but by comparison, Don's preamp profoundly better.  Don is now a devotee of the Shuguang CV181 tubes and I agree 100%....they are far better than any NOS tube out there other than a few of the Holy Grail of uber expensive tubes.  

Don upgraded my HK C-I, C-II, and C-V and they were outstanding.  However, his preamp is a much much better than the C-I and I am quite sure his new KT88-based amp will be much better than the C-II.  Google "Don Sachs Consulting" for a link to his website.  There may be better preamps available, but only if you are willing to spend dramatically more money.