2. amps-preamps
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seeking recommendations for a preamp

I've been lurking a while, but this is my first post. I will appreciate any advice given, and thank you for reading this.

My Kenwood C2 bit the dust. I have lost the right channel, and the input selector is also going out. I'm looking to replace it, and upgrade quite a bit. The wife has given me a $2500 budget, new or used is ok. I listen to Vinyl a lot, as well as my echo dot which is also plugged into my preamp with a headphone to RCA adapter. I'll list my other equipment now.

Completely rebuilt Altec A7-500 with all new parts from GPA
JBL L200s
Kenwood M1D amplifier
Homebrew rebuilt Monoblocks from Zenith consoles with EL84/6BQ5
Yamaha EQ
Thorens TD 318 with an Ortofon cart. Unsure which one as I am at work
SVS PB16 ultra

The room is 16 wide by 20 deep. I primarily listen to the Altecs and tube amps with the SVS sub taking up the slack in the bass from the A7s. Sometimes I listen to the JBLs driven by the Kenwood M1D. I notice that the echo dot sounds a lot better than my turntable, so I know I must be needing a better phono stage. I've tried swapping out turntables with a couple of Dual 1229s with Shure M97XE carts that Bill at fixmydual has gone through thoroughly so It's not isolated to my Thorens. I guess I' surprised that the $30 Echo Dot sounds so much better.  

I admit I don't have the best cables, and will upgrade those as I can. I feel like the preamp is the heart of the system so I want to make a good choice. I love Macintosh, based purely off emotion, but don't know if it's the best choice for my situation. I do not have a local shop to audition, and none of my friends are into audio. What preamps should I be looking at ??
128x128adrianleewelch
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,912 posts
 
u need to focus on the preamp, fix your bass issues later....

ARC SP-15 also fits the bill is hyper reliable, has phono and a remote !

but you have been given a ton of great advice on excellent sounding preamps!
mitchagain
446 posts
 
+ 1 on Audible Illusions preamps.

There are currently three listings for the 3A model on the website of The Music Room (TMRAudio.com). They are priced from $1474 - 1615.
Most of the time they will post their listings here on Audiogon.
laaudionut
264 posts
 
Check out Aric Audio. Aric is a great guy to work with , and will build a completely bespoke preamp to your exact specifications, should you desire. Many would also suggest Don Sachs, and his gear is great, but Aric's attention to customer service won me out.
nwres's avatar
nwres
232 posts
 
++ Don Sachs Audio. Don is a great guy to deal with and will work with you to make it the way you need it to be.
russbutton's avatar
russbutton
430 posts
 
The Don Sachs preamps are just gussied up VTA SP14 preamps.  The straight VTA preamp is pretty plain Jane in appearance, but is very affordable.  You can save a fair amount and get enormous satisfaction if you build it as a kit.  They provide excellent support.  They also offer it assembled and tested.

If  you buy their top line SP14 line stage preamp and PH16 phono preamp, assembled and tested, it'll come in at around $2500.  Build them as kits (and they're easy to do), it will run you around $1640 plus shipping.   

In terms of quality, they'll stand up against any of the under $10,000 things you can find on Audiogon.

http://www.tubes4hifi.com/SP14.htm

http://www.tubes4hifi.com/PH16.htm
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