Tube preamp options
My system from the preamp on consists of a rouge rp-7, rogue m180 monoblocks, and vandersteen quatro wood speakers. My main source is a brinkmann Bardo through a Rogers PA-2 phono pre. It all sounds great. But there's that itch, you know? I get tremendous soundstage but not that much depth. Clarity is great, mids are nice, bass is excellent. But it doesn't quite have that in the room sound that I'm looking for. The RP7 sounded too solid state and analytical for me out of the box with the stock JJ tubes so I've done extensive rolling. Been through all sorts of NOS tubes and landed on amperex as they seem to have the best balance of warmth and clarity. My thought is, maybe I can find a pre that has those attributes out of the gate without all the rolling. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of being able to tailor the sound with trying different tubes but I feel like maybe there's a brand out there who's house sound I like better. I haven't listened to anything more yet but brands that are on the list to check out are Backert labs, maybe a used ARC Ref 6, VTL, VAC. There are a million little boutique brands tho and I'm asking what people have heard in the 10k price range, new or used, that might be a good fit for me and why.
Thanks!
Is Vandersteen going the tube route or is the design a transistor circuit? This seems an ambitious (Surpass the ARC Reference 6SE performance) and serious effort. I wish them well. Charles |
i think what might be more illustrative is to look at the Vandersteen amplifiers for potential clues… The M7 is all out hybrid tube and SS outputs with a SE quasi ciirclotron typology with liquid cooling for perfect bias, no emiter resistors….built in HRS style isolation in a novel hanging truss…. the list is longer…. The ( much ) more affordable M5’s are all SS but have similar architecture. I believe the first preamp will be intended to mate w M5 level gear. I expect Richard will build a mate for the M7…..eventually…. i am in line and will evaluate it in 2 systems using Vandersteen amps and speakers. Finally for US audio shows, Vandy often pairs w ARC and many Vandy dealers carry both…. customer choice will be enhanced in most cases…how wonderful best to all Jim |
Thanks for your further thoughts. My Bardo is on an HRS isolation platform but I can't say I have a tremendous amount of isolation downstream. I have nothing on the tonearm which is a brinkmann 10.5 or cartridge which is a Mike Trei installed ortofon cadenza black. I got the unit from stereo exchange and Trei had set it up for them. On my phono pre which is a Rogers Hi Fi PA-2, I took off the stock feet and put some Herbie's audio lab tenderfeet. I also have some Herbie's super sonic stabilizers on top of it. Tube dampers on all the gain tubes. I have no isolation under the preamp. I did put some 3" granite slabs undery quatros at RVs suggestion. Maybe an HRS platform under each of the other components is a good next move. @soix my speakers are about 30"inches from the front wall. I spent a fair bit of time talking to John Rutan at Audio Connection about speaker placement. Like I said, my soundstage is wide and focused with nearly no toe in but very little depth. @gdnrbob thanks for the thoughts. Going all Vandersteen might be the ticket. We'll see. I've looked at the Atma stuff and it's all balanced which is great but would mean I'd need a different phono stage and I really like mine. Haven't looked closely at Ayre but will check it out! |
