Preamp for MA1 amp

Wellfed, I did not mean to temper your enthusiasm and I apologize if I sounded that way. I know that my enthusiasm for the Atma-Sphere amplifiers knows no bounds! I wish more of us could hear the Atma-Sphere preamplifiers to discover what Ralph Karsten has been able to accomplish. Your opinion of these preamplifiers certainly matches the comments I have heard from quite a number of MP-1 and MP-3 owners.
Kindest regards,

Hello Everyone,
Had to comment on this one, I have tried the Audible Illusions, CAT, CJ PV10 (I think) and the Joule Electra, all very good in thier own right, especially the Joule and then plugged in the MP-3, It was one of those few moments when my jaw dropped to the floor. The MP-3 was so much better than the others in almost every way. There is another thread going on relating to the Joule vs something else I don't remember but in that I had a similar story. I need to remind you that I own the MA-1 MKII amps so again there may be a synergy with Ralphs stuff going on here. I too was tempted to buy the Hovland but then I would have to change my system from a balanced to a single ended. I really don't know how much that buys me but the bottem line is that I really have no desire to try it.(Man does the Hovland ever look cool though) I finally ended up buying the MP-1 preamp. I really don't think you can do much better if you're running Ralphs amps. Besides you get to talk to Ralph which is always a kick. Good luck and keep us posted on which way you go.

Hello again Jkubina,
As an aside I haven't tried the phono stage yet but will soon as I am having my tonearn rewired for a balanced signal. A friend of mine that has tried it says it's killer.

I use my MA-2 mk 1 with the CAT signature mk3 to very good results, though i had to short one input tube to get the sensitivity down on the MA-2.
they work with RCA interlinks, the CAT is not fully balanced. The two partner very well, and i can recommend an audition ..
The CAT IS a great preamp, phono section is superb.
I am aware thru many conversations with many Atma-Sphere owners, that the MP-1 is bettering the CAT with any Atma power amp in a big way .
It may be mostly due to the Fully Balanced operation. i don't know.
It is a big investment over a CAT for sure, 6000 US for a CAT Ultimate versus almost 10 grand [without options] for the MP-1 !!
MAY it better the CAT ?!

Yes you may have guessed, i'm saving up.
OTL and vinyl, way to go for me.

The current list price for the base model MP-1 is $7,695 according the Atma-Sphere website.