Cary Audio SLP-98*
(remote)
https://www.caryaudio.com/products/slp-98/
Erhard-Audio Ella
(n/a remote) - worth mentioning though
http://www.erhard-audio.com/Ella.html
Cary Audio SLP-98* (remote) https://www.caryaudio.com/products/slp-98/ Erhard-Audio Ella (n/a remote) - worth mentioning though http://www.erhard-audio.com/Ella.html |
Keep in mind really-really good 6SN7 tubes are becoming harder to find, just went through this past few years trying several new, multiple NOS collections, adding a few more NOS. Then, bought some boutique 6SN7s no longer made. If you do go with a 6SN7 based preamp, and must buy new tubes, try the Sophia Electric Blue - not cheap but nice. Looking around you see a bit of a paradigm shift by some preamp and amp designers now leaning back to 12AU7, 12AT7s for better tube availability. re: SLP-98*, while It’s well above your price point for a new one, keep any eye out for a good used one. A good friend who bought my prior tube amplifier also demo’d the XA-25 with is SLP-98 and liked it a lot. Has an outboard transformer and decent volume control for a remote preamp. Also, has two sets of pre-outs, kinda rare. I spoke with Nelson a year ago and he told me personally that he has several customers running the SLP-98 with his XA amps, fwiw. I won’t give up my 6SN7 based preamp for a long time, but I’ve managed to hoard away multiple quads of NOS and new boutique 6SN7s as backup just in case - the majority of the new re-issue and new limited production 6SN7s just did not cut it for me. Your results may vary... |
larry-forgot to mention- nothing by schitt. I had an unpleasant experience with them. Additionally the noise from the volume control gets on your nerves. decooney, bigG and jond, Those names I will investigate. The Cary SLP05 is one I like but used they still go at 3,500. Mod and dehav are both two I want to learn more about. If I only require 1 or 2 of the 6SN7S I can probably find them Thank you all so much for your experience. |
Supratek - I think the Chardonnay is priced right around $2000. Seek out the thread entitled "Preamp Deal of the Century". At one time that thread had 26 million hits. I don't think I ever read through each and every of the 70+ pages. But I read enough to persuade me to bite the bullet on a Supratek. Wonderful, custom-built, point-to-point wiring, gorgeous. and Lifetime guarantee. |