Best Component Ever, for the money

Those late 70's batch of superior quality analog tuners(many brands) were a great buy. My Hitachi FT920 has provided good sound since ~ 1976 and responded very well to AC power upgrades. Still provides my Saturday afternoon at the Opera-better than ever! That's nealy 32 years of 24 hour a day operation w/o a hitch.(I've had it cleaned and aligned twice-shd do it again for the new year)). I am impressed with that value $300 new / 11680 days = 2.5 cents a day.

*2nd vote for Supratek Chardonnay (preamp)
*Lenco with Denon 103-R (Turntable, Cartridge)
*Trends Audio 10.1 and Little Dot T 150 (Digital amps)
*Cyber 800 (Power amp - tube), beats many at twice the $$$$
*Citypulse DA2.03e II w/USB Input($450 DAC), TubeDac+ with upgraded power supply (Tube DAC).

I still say those old tuners, that cost only 2 cents a day and work for 30+ years "define" value in the high end.

Bart,
Interesting you should say that. I also found that the Ming Da has potential. However I found it a bit noisy. What tubes did you use it with? Please enlighten us, because I think the basic design is very good.

Detlof, has potential is an understatement. Bart has put a lot of time, energy and money into this pre amp and I can tell just in the short time I have had it that Bart's pre is on another planet from where ours will be until we hunt down the tubes that really belong in it. It is worth investing in the best tubes. I am just scratching the surface with this pre and the performance has changed dramatically. It will be very easy to spend over a grand on the right tubes which I definetely plan on doing. Once you start you can't stop! Could very easily be the best component for the money. If not, then it has to be way up there.