2. amps-preamps
  3. 179106-5619

Help in deciding which tube preamp to replace my old SFL-2

I'm a long time audiophile. I am finally admitting that it is time to upgrade my tube preamp. For many years it has been my beloved Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 which was upgraded at Parts Connexxion about eight years ago and five years ago I changed out the 6922's to Siemens Rohre CCA tubes. Still sounds wonderful, but it's time. I am exclusively a vinyl listener and my system is: Nottingham table with Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge. Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono preamp fed to the SFL-2 via  balanced interconnects. Primaluna EVO 400's as monoblocks with new KT88's and vintage European small tubes. I also still have my Levinson 27.5 and 23 SS amps. Speakers are Avalon Acoustics Opus. All cables are Transparent Audio Ultras. Musical preference is mostly classic rock; Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Cars, Eric Clapton, etc... but have over 3,000 LP's and do listen to Sinatra quite often. Love string guitars. I plan to buy used, and my budget is around $10K. I've narrowed it down to the following: VTL 7.5 (III), CJ GAT, AR Ref 5SE of Ref 6, Concert Fidelity CF-080 LSX V3, or an Aesthetix Callstio Eclipse.

I respect all comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Thank you.

awise1961
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 

arc and c-j pre's are beyond reproach, the companies are stalwarts and the sound is impeccable, kevin hayes' vac is also in this class

other companies may well make wonderful products, perhaps the equal to those of the above mentioned... there are many today, there have been many in the past

but one question is how durable and long lasting is the quality, and will the company remain healthy to support the product and customer going forward many years?  remember, this is tubed gear we are talking about

i suppose the specific buyer, their expectations, time horizon to keep the gear, and so on, determines how much they value a foundational piece of one's system from a company like the above

awise1961 OP
47 posts
 

I couldn’t possibly have asked for more sage advice

than that jjss49. Thank you, it helps put things

in perspective for me.

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,724 posts
 

I replaced a CJ Classic 2 SE with the Zesto...  it was nice but the Zesto annihilated it , to put it lightly .   It is total ear candy ! 

ghdprentice
6,848 posts
 

@oddiofyl 

 

I have heard lots of good things about Zesto… and a couple comments about quality control. So, what is it’s sonic character… what were you comparing it to… ?

 

Details please.

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,724 posts
 

I love the Zesto, it has such a natural tone , you could say it is perfectly voiced for a preamp. Explosive dynamics coming from a jet black background. Great detail and huge Soundstage. Whats not to like? It is a great pre.

It has been very reliable, it’s on for hours every day. No issues. It did have a bad tube socket. With very high efficiency speakers there was an occasional faint noise in the right channel. I traced it the tube socket. They don’t make the tube sockets so unfortunately it was a bad part, no fault of Zesto. I sent it in, for a VERY reasonable fee George replaced all sockets with the new style gold/ceramic ones. I figured it’s in California it would be stupid to not do the ESP Power supply thats in the new units.

Before taking delivery of my Toolshed 300b Amp, I was talking to Matt about his latest preamp . It’s a DHT and promises to be the perfect match to what is a phenomenal amp. I’ll be selling the Zesto soon, but I can say its the best sounding pre I have ever owned or had first hand experience with to date. It’s good stuff.

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