Looking for warm tube preamp (should pair well with Pass power amp), budget $6000

@smodtactical

I am using a McIntosh C2300 tube pre (into a McIntosh MC152 ss) and really enjoy it. They run about $4k, and I’ve worked with Audio Classics in Vestal NY for all my used McIntosh gear - always had a great experience

I occasionally swap amps and use a Will Vincent pp EL34 - the tube/tube combination stills retains “crispness” and is not overly warm, to my ear (shout out to Will Vincent, another individual tube amp maker creating beautiful pieces for all of us to enjoy - his handle is @autospec )

Let us know what you decide & have a great day!

You might also consider a Supratek preamp. 

Thanks,

aldnorab

Aric Audio! Before I acquired the Coda Model 16, I had Aric's Motherlode paired with Pass XA60.8's and XA160.8's, and the results were sublime! Wonderful clarity, without being bright and the warmth I was seeking to round out the solid state slam.  Aric and I worked on the original Motherlode when I was seeking out TRL Audio's, The Dude. I could not find one, so Aric built a close replica based on pics and schematics that he found, and added his own expertise and knowledge to bring out what I wanted in The Motherlode. 

ARC has been working from the tube side getting more and more accurate for many decades. Their tube amps are very neutral and natural not remotely syrupy. Your description of what you wanted described it perfectly. Also, ARC gear is very synergistic… the more in the signal path the better it sounds. This way you don’t end up with one component on the cool side and the other a bit on the warm side and loosing a bit of both through subtraction. I never realized how important this synergy was until I added an ARC amp and then an ARC DAC… wow… that was a jaw dropping moment. But still, swapping my Pass x350 for a ARC 160s was perhaps the most consequential change I ever made. 

If my McIntosh mx110z tube tuner/preamp died, I would fix it or get another, without a sideways glance at another.

I received mine, used it for over a year, then gave it to Audio Classics. 

Best thing they did was replace all the rca jack panels with new gold plated ones.

My advice now, if buying vintage, save a step: have seller ship it directly to your restorer, in my case, here in the east, Audio Classics.

They do this and that, then on to you.

..............................

This one has already been 'done' by Audio Classics.

see the new rca jacks.

this one, see the old corroded jacks

zero noise, fabulous fm, two wonderful phono inputs (I use SUT for MC to keep using mx110z's phono.

McIntosh units have the wonderful MODE dial, very helpful playing Mono LPs, , balance, loudness, tone ....