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Balanced Tube Preamp Recommendations for $2000

Hi All,

I'm looking for a balanced tube preamp, must have remote, xlr in and outputs and HT bypass, preferably used and would like to seek your advice.
Budget is $2000.

Have shortlisted the Aesthetix Calypso and Audio Research LS17 SE. Any other candidates I should think about?

Will be using it to drive a pass labs XA30.5. Primarily using it because I want to consolidate and use one set of speakers for both my HT and 2 channel listening. Was previously using my m2tech young dsd DAC to directly drive my amp.

Thank you for your advice in advance.
stgrim
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,434 posts
 
Look out for a used Backert Labs Rhumba 1.2. I believe they are selling their 1.2 version for $2.5k new. Excellent preamp which has XLR in and HT bypass. IF you purchase from them directly, they might allow for a demo. Email Andy Tebbe, who is generally prompt to respond back.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
Are you looking for a fully differentially balanced preamp - from input to output?  Many tube preamps (including the Backert) with balanced outputs are either a hybrid design or use transformers, so they are not truly differential.  Maybe you could reconsider this criteria unless you think it is somehow mission critical due to grounding issues or long cables runs for example.  It opens the door up to many more possibilities, especially within your budget.
testpilot
981 posts
 
It will be tough to find a true differential balanced tube preamp for $2,000 used. 
cal3713's avatar
cal3713
1,421 posts
 
I think some Suprateks have balanced outputs, don't think they're full differential though.
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
The Calypso’s balanced output impedance (measured by Stereophile to be 112 ohms at 1 kHz and above but a very high 3900 ohms at 20 Hz) is marginal at best with respect to the balanced input impedance of the XA30.5 (spec’d at 30K and measured as 29K by Stereophile).

The LS17SE as well as most other ARC line stages don’t provide a lot of margin either, having a recommended **minimum** load impedance of 20K. And it isn’t clear if that recommendation applies to its balanced outputs or its unbalanced outputs or both.

Finally, I agree with some of the others that you are unlikely to find a high quality fully balanced preamp meeting your various requirements for $2K used. And a preamp in that price range providing balanced outputs while having an unbalanced internal signal path might sound better if you were to use its unbalanced outputs and drive the amp single-ended. Note, though, that Stereophile measured the unbalanced input impedance of the XA30.5 as being 20K, so if you were to do that you would want the preamp to have an unbalanced output impedance of no more than about 2K at all frequencies.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al
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