The future of preamps

@ Atmasphere, Hi, I have said numerous times thru-out this thread how I respect you and like your designs, I hope you set the record straight with JWm and others here, they need to re-read some post!, Ralph, I have had alot of bad things happen to me in audio recently I have not disclosed on this thread, I apoligize if I was mis-understood, these mishaps that I have been thru costed thousands of dollars!, I was in no way at fault for what has happened to me, I have had a $6,350.00 tube cd-player blow up with-in 90 days of new, I have had tube products emit DC, I had to totally renew my amp at Krell!, that costed me $3,150.00 dollars!,the amp just came back in october,2013, Its still in the krell box, The good thing however, Is the amp got caps that was not available in 2005, Krell claims it is a better 700cx then when it was first made in 2005 or better than any 700cx amp out there, Krell said that, not me!, Krell claims I have the first and only amp like this, so in the end, I hope you understand why I am so worried about my investments!, nothing personal at all directed to you, and I would never be a person to give you a bad tiime after a sale unless I have litterally the same problems listed on this post!, Highest regards to you Ralph, Thankyou.

OK, George and Knghifi- Point taken. I've got nothing to add technically to this discussion so I will retreat to the sidelines and lurk silently.

Audiolabyrinth,
You've had some unfortunate experiences with audio components. I wish you the best and hope this time around you have a sucessful outcome. I do hope you're able to hear the Atma-Sphere MP-1, you'll like it I'm certain.
Regards,
Charles,

THis thread is a good example of why so few people are interested in high end audio, even if they love music and can afford it.

PEople just want their stuff to work and sound good, especially when making a sizable investment. Not be required to have a degree in EE in order to be able to cut through all the noise and be criticized when things go bad for whatever reason.

However hard it may be to figure out what works when things are going as they should, it pales in comparison to understanding why things break or malfunction or do not perform as advertised. All the facts needed to make such determinations are usually not known or apparent. That's why it's called an "accident".

Also why there is no substitute for good customer service, especially in an expensive hobby like this, and why no product can be successful over teh long term without it.

@ charles1dad, Thankyou for your kind words, I look forward to listening to a atmasphere m-1 preamp and the other models down the preamp chain Ralph has, cheers.