2. amps-preamps
  3. 128487-91515

It is a good idea to purchase a vintage tube pre-amp.

Since the new one are pretty expensive and what I can afford is an old one with budget of US$2000~3000. Since I don't have much knowlege on electronics, but I have authentic listening capabilities. Is it good idea to buy an old gear of tube pre amp. around 10 or 15 years such as Audio Research SP-15 or something similar (the newer one within my budget is better of course).  I would prefer a stable, long time use gear without much trouble.
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atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
@tubegroover , are these caps at the output of the preamp? If so, what sort of amp are they driving?

A very common issue that faces preamp manufacturers is the value of the output coupling cap. This is often defined by the lowest impedance that the unit is expected to drive (and certainly is a dilemma as smaller caps almost always sound better than large ones). But if you are driving a tube amp the caps might not have to be so large! Just a thought- its easy enough to calculate the right value given the input impedance of the amplifier...
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Yes Ralph, the caps are at the output driving a pair of Quicksilver amps with an input impedance of 100K. I also have used with a pair of vintage MC60's and  a Berning zotl amp to equally good effect.
bigkidz
3,381 posts
 
For the money buy an old counterpoint SA-2000 and send it to me for upgrading.  Volume control, caps, new resistors, I will incorporate tube rectification, etc.  Should beat the ARC ref II preamp and a few others.

Happy Listening.
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