I have used many tube preamps with LP’s and CDP’s. And although I mate them with tube amps, sometimes I try my tbe preamps with SS amps like my Proton and MArantz 140. As to the best preamps, from the following list:
McIntosh C-11 (owned 3)
McIntosh C-20 (owned 3 too)
Conrad Johnson PV1, PV-8, PV10a
Dynaco PAS-2, PAS-3 and PAS-3X
Nikko Beta 500 (SS, not tube)
Heathkit WA-P2 (mono boxes, so u need two controlled via one stereo volume pot to make a stereo set a worthy and useable try)
Radford SC22 (SS+tube at the phono stage, tubes at the line stage; I have had two)
Radford SC2 (all tube design but needs external DIY PSU like the Heathkit’s)
EICO HF-85 (all tube design)
I’d say the best value is the Heathkit if you can DIY a joint volume pot, and make your pown power supply to feed them with 300VDC regulated at 30ma total, and 6.3 VAC for the tube filaments. A pair is equivalent in circuitry design to Fisher 50C which costs many times over the Heathkit, and probably sound not much different from each other. A pair of WA-P2 should not cost you over 100 US$ if you buy from local sources, and I imagine it would be a common item at thrift stores.
If you wanna spend your 1k US$ on an absolute best among the list above (it’s just my experience, someone else will tell you his), I’d suggest the PV-1 from Conrad Johnson, or PV-2 which is the same thing with delayed signal at turn-on. These are becoming rarer and rarer and they prices are rising commenruately. I got mine in mint condition at about $725 from a hifi friend of mine. It is probably the only ones among CJ’s PV line that uses NFB, while later models from PV-5 onwards, use no NFB. So the PV-1 and PV-2 sound distinguishingly clean in a tubey way with warm mid-bass. It is at its best playing symphonic music, and not bad at all playing chamber. If you have a chance, compare it with Marantz 7C, vintage or re-issues. You’d wonder why they are priced that far apart nowadays.
Forget about McIntosh C-11 and C-20 and C-22. Complete waste of money even if you use TFK tubes on them. You’d want them for display only if you come across some in minty condition.
