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

@smodtactical 

It seems most people want neutrality.

Maybe they want to want neutrality…they want to want “the mic feed in the studio”. The reality is far different. I want to lose track of time, I wan to listen for long periods without dissecting the sound, to stop fretting over the gear. Its almost like many in the hobby (I have been guilty as well) want to buy a salty dish, tame the saltiness with an extremely unsalty preamp or dac or cables, etc, etc. Its really hard to guess, especially without demos. Why is it so hard to get this right? They are random interactional outcomes.

Aric likely designs his preamps and amps to interact wonderfully together. Audio Note is a fine example. Shindo as well. How many posts do we see where some says “ Iheard some amazing speakers, I just melted…but I got them home and they dont sound right. “  Take a system approach, respect the designers intent and buy with this in mind. Far too many want to force a fit…the sooner we abandon the bolt on tweakiness, the sooner we find audio happiness.

I sent an email to Roy at tubes4hifi to see if he has any recommendations for a warm sound out of the sp14 (maybe some kind of mods).

I’m going to back up @aricaudio with his statement about the value of his used gear. How can I do this? The reason I can is because I purchased one of the two Motherlode II’s that have come up on the used market. At the time,it was the only one I had ever seen. I stretched my budget a little,and it was worth every penny.

@smodtactical If I too may offer a supportive angle about value and quality of sound some of the smaller lower-volume production builders offer. When we lock into a special preamp or special amplifiers, immediate resale value becomes less relevant because we choose to keep these units and listen them over decades vs. years.

Looking at photos inside of Aric Audio amps and preamps some can see what’s going on there and what makes it extra nice in terms of parts, hand-made layout, construction. Something most of the mainstream manufacturers won’t offer due to higher labor costs. Lifting the hood and looking underneath, comparing, comes next once you learn more.

Even the lower priced (Aric Audio 6SN7 Linestage) is nice, can use different tubes for different sound and presentation, another option if you don’t like tube swaps in your current ARC ref5se. And, we’ve got the designer/builder right here on this forum. This is value-add $ for those of us who seek out the better boutique builders. I’ll go out on a limb to say its likely Aric can get you closer to the sound you seek.  Another reasonably affordable option if the your existing preamp does not work out for you.

@rocray If I could have gotten motherlode used I would have to for sure!