Best Used Tube Based Preamp $2k Or Under?


As the title says, I am pondering my best options for purchasing a tube based preamp for $2k or under. Must have a remote! 

 

Your opinions, thoughts, and expertise would be greatly appreciated. If I was spending more, I would know most of the best choices, but I'm on unfamiliar ground at this price limit. But sometimes, you can only do what you can do. 

Thanks for any help. 

nightfall

Depends on the rest of your system.  I tend to go with the Hippocratic oath wrt audio: First, Do No Harm.

By harm I mean overprocessing the signal.  So if you agree with that and have a simple signal path with minimal processing, then get a point to point pre by decware, Apollo, Aric or similar.   Apollo is an undiscovered gem and is still more affordable.

If you don't agree with my methodology, than that is why I kept it short, so you wouldn't waste too much time reading it.

Jerry

My best advice is the SP-14 from Tube4Hifi, based on 6SN7 octal tubes, the very preamp that Don Sachs developed to a greater degree.  Check out their website.  I just got a Don Sachs 2 preamp and it was a bargain at $2200, a legacy unit for sure.  Lots of great suggestions above, too.

If you lived in Australia I could sell you a 110v Aesthetix Calypso for just under US$2000 as I have upgraded to a VTL 5.5. The VTL is an upgrade but not by a lot.