Adcom pre amp versus Van Alstine

Of the two, I’d pick the Van Alstine, in case I was too long winded. I might check out this one from a list of possibles:

There's also an ARC SP-6 out there for an under $1k price, and an Aric.

i've never heard the VA, so can't opine on it. however, i have owned the adcom 750  and it was  excellent--it's a nelson pass design which is on a completely different level than adcom's cheaper gtp (preamp w/tuner) models. it had a passive mode which was really transparent and sounded even better than the active mode. that said, other posters make a valid point about the reliability of older gear--i think the models you're looking at are 25+ yrs old--but the 750 is a serious piece.

At the prices these units command, buy both and evaluate on your own time. Report back here with the winner. Everyone loves a shootout. 

I have decided to buy them both! I will circle back with my review of both.

I had the GFP 750 in my system for about 6 months.I thought it was a pretty good.

Fairly Transparent with a leaning toward a dry presentation.

Amp at the time was a Aleph 30.

Nelson Pass designed the preamp  and probably one of the better products that Adcom released.