Is it the tube pre or the rca/xlr adapter?

Thanks for the suggestions! I do like the overall sound that I am getting. Cymbol rolls are crisp and you can really hear them ring. The LF is not what I am used to from a solid pre, but I don't need to hear the foundation vibrate. Imaging is much more pronounced and deeper now. Before my mishap last night I was trying to put my finger on just what it was that I wasn't hearing. I was listening to Aja and it seemed that most of the consonants weren't there. So I guess the detail I think I'm missing is in the mid-range frequencies. Based on some of your comments I'll give everything some more time to burn in. I haven't popped the hood and checked which tubes are installed. I assumed they are the BAT 6H30's since the unit is almost new. I will double check. I failed to mention before but I'm connecting the Classe with a 1M pair of Quattro Fils. Yeah, I have replaced the whole mid-section of my system all at once and now I realize that I probably should give it some time.

Twl, my TT is a MMF 7 and the previous owner mounted a Shure v15vxmr. I can't remember the specs right off hand but I think it matched well enough with the 834P's load. I checked some of Thorsten's posts on the Asylum and found that he recommended that the 834 drive 100KOhms or higher. The BAT input is right at 100K. What gets me is that this analog front end seemed very revealing on my old solid pre, that's what led to my first post. I do realize, however, that I am now trying to play at a much higher level quality wise with equipment that is not as forgiving if there are weak links in the system.

I have sent Roy an email about getting a new wiring harness. I don't know if that will solve the recurring channel loss problem, but it will sure solve the channel loss I have now!

Is there bypass input in your preamp?
I'd recommend to use no preamp in your case. EAR834P has a volume controll so why'd you need another one?
If you talk to BAT, Viktor may implement for you an upgrade for having pass-through (passive) input.

Marakanetz,

My 834P is not the Signature model. It has no volome pot, just the MC stepups. I may get the 834P caps modded in the future and perhaps I could add balanced outputs at that time if that can be added and if the cost is not prohibitive.

This comment is limited to the adaptor question. I have a Lamm LP2 phono amp, single ended outputs only, and a Rowland Synergy IIi preamp, balanced inputs and outputs only. I directly compared two pairs of Purist Dominus cables between them, RCA cable terminations with both BAT and Rowland RCA/XLR converters at the preamp inputs, and XLR cables with an RCA/XLR Cardas adaptor at the output to the phono amp. The latter was noticeably clearer. Cardas connectors better? Balanced cables better? Adaptor doing less harm at the phono amp output than at the preamp input? Got me, but these are the facts, man.

Why are you using the balanced adapters? If you are going into the BAT with single ended, there is no need to use balanced outs from the EAR. That is simply running through a line balancing transformer and adapters for no good reason. Just run single ended on both ends. There is no inherent advantage to running balanced cables, unless the equipment is designed with balanced internal circuitry, and even then you have to have both units being balanced and the correct cables with balanced connections on both ends. I'd run normal single ended RCA plugs on both ends.