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Tube preamp question

Hello all,
I've recently been looking to possibly add a nice tube preamp to use with my spectron musician ii (hybrid upgrade/no V cap upgrade) monos and Anthony Gallo ref 3.1 speakers. I am currently using a Lexicon MC-12B preamp, bybee power filters with wireworld power cables, cardas balanced xlr and spectron remote sense cables. (I am also using lexicon rt-10 universal player and Oppo bdp 103). I love the Lexicon preamp and mostly watch movies but have been more and more appreciating music on my system. I'd love to add the warmth of a tube preamp but is there anyway to use both or would a tube buffer between the universal player and preamp be the way to go (a happy medium). Basically I want to use the Lexicon for movies and a tube preamp for mostly 2ch music. Is there any way to "pass through" the lexicon and use a tube preamp when I want to listed to the tubes?
I would also need a balanced tube preamp due to the fact the spectrons must be changed internally from balanced/unbalanced.
Any help/input/ideas would be very greatly appreciated as always
duckdownman
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
Swampwalker gave good advice above..I'd have to agree with him...and the BAT tube preamps, used, around 2k or up are a great choice, If you could go up a little bit and get a BAT VK51SE you'd have to spend a lot of cash to get a better preamp...(like 10k or more...)
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
You might want to consider pinging Audiogon member "dopogue", he has a lot of experience with Gallo Ref. speakers and tubes. Plus he's a super-nice guy...

-RW-
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I agree with Swampwalker and Jfrech, BAT seems to be the natural choice for what you are looking for. Fully balanced, tubed, a bit on the warm side, and HT pass-through.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
I have never used a Lexicon but I am "thinking" that the analog pass-thru feature MAY indicate that those inputs do not route the signal to the digital signal processing section or DACs in the Lexicon. But I "think" it might route the signal thru the volume attenuator so you would have two attenuators in the circuit, generally not considered a good idea. But I'd read your manual on the Lexicon carefully and perhaps even talk to customer service to make sure.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
I don't know if Cary has balanced outputs but you already know you like the sound so that is logical. The other plus about Cary is that most of their preamps use 6SN7 tubes extensively. These tubes are readily available as Old Stock even true NOS. You can roll the tubes until you get the sound you want.
I don't know if Conrad Johnson preamps have balanced circuits but many of their older preamps have that warm sound you seem to be hankering for.
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