Audio Horizons TP 2.0 Preamplifier

I would be inclined to go with your best and with the phono unit separate with clear indications of lowest price unit and ease of upgrade.
But it is a very tough question becuase if the lowest unit recieves high praises at that attractive price point, you would generate much interest(sales)with many deciding "what the heck" and upgrading right away anyway. I would provide the reviewer with a set of stock tubes as well as a set of great cca's, checking specific unit and its tubes for very carefully for microphonics before sending.

I vote for the integrated for the review. After all its Joseph's signature work that is the subject matter at hand. At this level of importance, this review can potentially put "General" chow (affectionatly speaking) on the map.

His preamp deserves full attention by all audiophiles in my opinion, stock or non-stock. Never had a preamp that had such long term staying power of holding my interest in listening. Nuff said.

-

Dear Joseph and Victor,

As with others here, I'd suggest going with the top-of-the-line version. I would also suggest that you make it extremely clear to the reviewer (and I would hope they'd include the information in the review) that there is a very accessible entry-level price point in addition to a very well-defined upgrade path for the unit being reviewed.

I consider this to be one of the strengths of the TP line; start with what you can afford and upgrade when you can, knowing that AH will take good care of your preamp.

I'm not so sure about including the stock EH tubes, though. I wasn't terribly impressed, to be truthful. After I installed the PQ White Labels, I was absolutely hooked. Perhaps you could provide the Siemens tubes already installed and a set of E-H tubes in case they want to note the differences.

As for the 8.0... I believe that you're getting into a tricky area, here. Not everyone is into vinyl... MM, or MC?... The 8.0 does increase the entry price point, making it potentially out of reach for some people... and other such considerations. Overall, I suppose I'd go for including the 8.0 as an integrated unit, but I'd make very sure that the reviewer realizes and notes that it is an OPTION.

I realize that one cannot tell a reviewer what to write, but if you provide enough information and make it clear that the TP 2.0n is a fantastic preamp at an affordable price, with a well-defined upgrade path to audio Nirvana, you should probably fare very well.

It would be my hope, too, that someone posts the review here when it's available!

Best,
Rob

You've received some good advice from other Audio Horizons customers. I'll add my "amen" to their comments.
I recommend that you send the TP 2.1 equivalent of either the TP 2.0nb or the TP 2.0nB, which are the versions of that preamp that perform at the highest level.
The upgrade path is an important story.
I would take the same approach with the phono preamp. Send the best performing version of the stand alone unit. It doesn't have to include all of the possible variatiations and features (i.e., it doesn't have to be the most expensive version) but it should perform at the highest level

Agree with all the above :

Review the top preamp *without* the phono stage (as a line only, how it originated)

Also, I'd like to see it pitted against some big-name, expensive preamps we're familiar with reading about in these threads.

Congratulations to Joseph "Commander" Chow (I like that La45 !) and Victor Comerchero.