Audible Illusions modulus 3A, what would be the next level of up grade?

I had a 3A with the John Curl phono board for many years and really felt it was an excellent sounding unit. It did eat tubes and I had a major problem with it when one of the volume controls shorted and sent a spike to one speaker. Very costly problem. This is an issue with these as they age but AI does stock parts.

I grew tired of the old schoolness of this unit and wound up with a ARC LS27 pre and love it. While I had to invest in a new phono pre the LS 27 was a huge advancement in ease of operation and I feel, sound quality.

I had been running an Audible Illusions MA3 for 10 years when I sent it back for some updates and repairs, I took advantage of AIs very liberal trade in policy and took possesion of the new pre 16 months later. Both pres had the John Curl phone boards and needless to say I loved them both dearly, with that said I did not want to go into my retirement with a piece of gear I could not count on the builder to repair and get back to me within a reasonable amount of time. I went through 9 very good preamps and an equal amount of phone preamp to settle on a Lamm LL2.1 Deluxe and an Allnic H1500se ll phono. I was really surprised at how much cash it took to better the Modulas 3B, other pres that I used and really liked were the 1st Sound Presence Deluxe lll.

I would look for a upgrade in speakers before anything else.

Kenny.

I agree with kdude66. Going to the Double Impacts from the Pendragons would be a very good upgrade if you like the Tekton sound. I also had Audible Illusions preamps for many years--owned the 2D for 18 years followed by the 3A w/gold phono boards for 6 years. The phono section was tough to replace. I bought a TRL DUDE used on Audio Circle and it has been a sincere upgrade--potent powerful bass, wonderful live mids and uppers, with very live sound overall. It took several tries to find a phono pre I liked as well. I finally bought a used Whest 3.0 RDT SE for $2300, but the phono section on the AI was VERY tough to beat, even with the awesome DUDE doing the line stage. The AI 3A does not eat tubes if you buy AI’s premium matched tubed set. I had the same tubes for all 6 years--changed them right when I bought it used on Agon.