The future of preamps

Charles- I do have a Vac Ren 30/30 now (as well as a couple of others). I sold the M-60s for I know not what reason and since I have more than 1 amp here, I do believe that I should have kept them as well as my VAC. The VAC needs a repair now, it has a hummmmm that I cannot get rid of, which was not there before it slipped when I was trying to replace it in my rack, and a lot of weight landed on the feedback selector. The Vac is going to have to go into the shop and I have a pair of Coincident MP300bs coming to try out w a pair of one-off OB speakers w Feastrex field coil single drivers (w powered subs) that are also on their way here.

Audiolabyrinth, LOL! If you're considering a tube pre in this price range, also checkout VAC SigMKIIa. LOL! It's only takes 2 e88cc/6922/7308 so easy to roll, very sensitive to tube rolling so you can dial in the sound you desire LOL! LOL!, it can drive any amp you will ever consider LOL! and it sounds excellent! LOL! LOL! LOL!

There's also a pair of 12au7s that's only for tape and SHOULD NOT effect line stage according to Kevin but it does to my ears. LOL! LOL! So you might or might not have to roll the 12au7s. LOL!

@ charles1dad, you are the man!, you hit the nail on the head when no one else could, when I said tube magic!, Tone, bloom,and 3- dimensionality is what I am emphasising here!, It is difficult to express what I am saying gentleman, I am sorry, bear with me, How would all of you here compair purity audio preamps to atmas-phere preamps?, I have a problem with 32 volts out-put, although Ralph has gain controls outside of the signal, I want to know if that is a control to the output volts, My amp is fully driven at 3.58 volts!, clipping is 18 volts, an explosion!, I am reffering to the m-1 preamp. merry christmas to all of you!

Knghifi-
LOL!

12-24-13: Audiolabyrinth
I have a problem with 32 volts out-put, although Ralph has gain controls outside of the signal, I want to know if that is a control to the output volts, My amp is fully driven at 3.58 volts!, clipping is 18 volts, an explosion!

The 32 volt number could be 1000 volts and you still wouldn't have a problem. That is the highest voltage the preamp is CAPABLE of putting out, which as Ralph and I both indicated several times earlier in the thread should be (and usually is, for most high quality preamps) MUCH greater than the highest voltage it would ever be required to put out in normal use.

The M-1 is spec'd as providing 14 db of gain, for line-level (non-phono) inputs. Which means that with the volume control turned all the way up the output voltage will be 5.01 times greater than whatever voltage is provided to it by a line-level source, at any given moment. Turning down the volume control would reduce that level as necessary.

Also, once again, clipping is not 18 volts. Perhaps that number just applies to the input circuit of the amp, or perhaps the person who provided that number is confused. But since the output of the amp is spec'd as being able to provide a maximum of 84 volts rms, and the gain of the amp is spec'd at 26.4 db, per a calculation I provided earlier in the thread (on 12-13-13) the output of the amp will clip when the input voltage exceeds approximately 4.02 volts.

Regards,
-- Al