Audible Illusions M3B question

I eventually moved on to better tube preamp offerings, of which there have been many... 

Can you please post a list @sundaycomix ?
 

I have an AI purchased in ‘98. I have been thinking about upgrading, but I do not know what I would upgrade too, as it seems like it is very nice.

The main thing that I dislike is that it is 120v, and it is in Australia now, so I use a transformer. The upgrade cost to go to a 230v power supply was $450, but then I think that they wanted me to send the unit in… I honestly cannot recall exactly… it was like ~6 months ago. And secondly it takes up a bit of shelf space.

But it sounds so good, that I cannot imagine what I would replace it with.

I happened to have both M3B MM (used) and M3B MC (new). After realizing that the used sounds as good as the new, and the MC is not as quite good compared to Allnic H1202 MC and Hashimoto based SUT, I sold M3B MC.

I like to hear from anybody who had owned M3B and happened to upgrade it. Which preamp did they upgrade to? How much better the upgraded preamp is compared to M3B in sound quality?

Yeah @ihcho … #metoo

I do not have the phono stage, and the tubes have not been replaced. I might do that, but it is soundly lovely still.

@ihcho,

I had a Modulus3, Modulus3A, and Modulus3B.  I upgraded from each previous model.  I sold my 3B for 2 reasons. First was there was too much gain!  I could not put the volume controls past 9 o clock and the detects didn’t help. The other reason is I am much older now and wanted a remote.  

I replaced the 3B with a Rogue RP-5 preamp and kept it only for  1 1/2 years.  While I liked the remote aspect, the sound was not as good as the 3B.  I finally settled on a McIntosh C2500 tube preamp and it is my last preamp. 

My speaker is 6ohm 87dB, and on my MB3, the volume control always stays at past 10 o’clock. Most of times I set it to between 11 and 1 o’clock. So the high gain is not a problem for me.

I wonder whether C2500 would be a lateral move regarding the sound quality. I don’t miss a remote yet, so I will stay with M3B for a while. ;-)

Anyway, I like the sound of M3B a lot. It beats my Plinius M16 preamp easily. I use M16 in another setup for casual listening, and I also ordered a spare tubes for M3B from AI, so I hope I should be good for many more years to come.