Replacing my MFA Luminescence B2 preamp

Well, that's just like...your opinion, man.

I just read up on  AR SP10, SP11, ML-7a, and CJ Premier 7 through a series of Stereophile reviews. All reference level preamps from mid-80’s to early 90’s vintages. 

 If @jafox ‘barely preferred’ the AR SP 10 over the Lumi, then it should belong to an same elite group.  Lumi being ‘outclassed’ by the above preamps, may be an over-statement by @opus111 ? Although I have read/heard from several sources that  the Jadis JP-80 was a  class above the rest.

The comparisons have to be understood in the context at what was available at the time I heard the Lumi vs. the SP10.  The SP11 had just come out and the SP10 was on its way out.  I preferred the SP10 over the SP11.  As I recall, it was somewhat of a 50/50 split as to which was preferred over the other.  Notice I don't use the word, "better".

CJ's top preamp at the time I recall was the Premier 3 which I did not care for as its frequency extremes were even less extended than the SP10's.  The Premier 7 came along a couple years after my preamp quest.  The 7 was significantly higher cost than the others above....way out of my price point.

The Lumi's bass was a new experience for me with a tube preamp.  That low frequency foundation can really make a difference to the musical performance.  But so did the outstanding dynamic contrasts of the SP10 which added that excitement and showed the compression brought on by the Lumi.  This was a time (mid 80s) when we all had to decide one set of pros and cons of one product vs. another.  Three decades later have brought on a ton of refinements to SS and tube preamps.  But even today, the top SS preamps don't do 3D like the top tube products do, especially those with tube rectified power supplies.

Products like the Klyne 6/7 series, Spectral DMC 10 as I recall and the Krell PAM3 that I compared at the time all had more frequency extreme coverage than the SP10t.  Te SP11 was breaking new ground here but to me some of the "magic" had been lost.  The solid state products compared here were all too sterile for me.  And after reading all the outstanding praise on the ML38s, and hearing for myself how horrible this product was in the mid 90s vs. the ARC LS5 and CJ Premier 14, I can't imagine how any ML product previously made by Mark or later by Madrigal could even begin to compete with the above tube products in the context of spatial rendition.  One reviewer even replaced his SP10 with the 38s!  That was just insane for me to imagine.

Comparing the JP-80 is silly here as this too came years later.  Inclusion of this would require one to bring on all the great tube preamps that followed the Lumi and SP10/11.  I would put my current preamp, Aria WV5 XL with the Hashimoto HM7 step-up transformers up against any version of the JP-80 and not be surprised if the JP-80 was "outclassed".

I would not put too much weight on the "best of" lists by Arthur Salvatore as I have compared many of his highly-praised products and walked away with, "huh?".

Oh, and one more thing, as you have Von Gaylord amplifiers, you owe it to yourself to try the VG line stages.  These are simply, OUTSTANDING!  If the Aria blew up tomorrow, the VG 2 or 3 would be the first product I would bring home to drop in my system.

@jafox Kudos to your post from 2008 on the Aria WV5 XL in particular,  and your audio quest in general. Your experiences with the various preamps have also given me a better reference point for the Lumi, I think.

I came to acquire the Von Gaylord power amp  through reading IAR. I have contacted VG about upgrading the power amp. It has not occurred to me to go all VG. The RE-search continues.....

On an entirely different matter, noticing that a pair of Soundlab A1 sit in your listening room,  I wondered if you could enlighten me regarding electrostatics on a different post : https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/quad-2912-vs-martin-logan-esl-11a. Thanks!

I have read/heard from several sources that the Jadis JP-80 was a class above the rest.

I heard that preamp at Harry Pearson’s house driving our MA-2s on a set of Pipedreams. It was a nice preamp, but IME not really in a different class. It did support balanced operation properly (that is how it was driving our amps) and when you do that there isn’t any going back to single-ended. I think that might have set it apart in some people’s minds; in that situation you eliminate the effects of the interconnect cable to the amps. Its not the only preamp to do that; its one of the few. Other preamps that can drive balanced lines correctly (IOW support AES48 which is the balanced line standard) also have that ability, and do sound better on that account. I know of two that don’t have output transformers (which the JA-80 had) and thus are more transparent.