Audio Horizons TP 2.0 Preamplifier

"Over time I have to agree with Sherod, the newer version is weaker in "breath of life". Combined, all these differences make for a very different sounding preamp.

Perhaps burn in will ultimately bring this attribute to the music."

Bill, I heard this "breath of life" phrase in an older review from back in about 1978 of a pair of speakers that were time and phase aligned. Ever since then, I've kept this phrase in my mind as to me it encompasses a lot of things. Actually, that elusive "breath of life" is more important to me than any of the other attributes you mentioned, yet when a component expresses that "breath of life" the other attributes should be there as well, but not always. In a nutshell, "breath of life" means real and palpable to me. If I'm listening to a good piano recording, I expect it to give me a "live" presentation, not a reasonable facsimile of one, no matter how clean and big it sounds on that stage. So far, with my upgraded preamp, the presentation of the soundstage is larger than life, and the sound is all coming from a two-dimensional plane. For example, when I listen to an orchestra that has been well recorded, I want to hear the trumpets coming from the back row, the flutes and clarinets on the front, the percussionists even further back. To me, at this point, the orchestra seems to be all sitting together on the front row. This is difficult to explain, for me.

StlTRains - The other responders are right that NOS can be microphonic, but I had alot more trouble with microphonics with Siemens E188cc's than with my cca's. I own two seperate quads of these. IMO they should not ring even without the use of dampers becuase all dampers that I have tried also dampen the sound.

By floating the board I meant that Joseph for me (to solve microphonics) did not screw down the board that the tubes are plugged into but rather let it float free. The problem herein is that it needs to be tied down for shipping which IMO is not a big problem.

I use balanced outputs to my amp but unbalanced inputs from my DAC, so I have 1/2B type unit. I did notice quite a positive difference using the balanced outputs versus RCA - quieter, more three dimensional, more air. But much of this could also be due to different IC's. I used AH IC's for the balanced and Guerilla Audio silver for the RCA.

Mark - Thanks for your detailed, cogent and honest Ref 3 comparision. While 4X AH price is out of my current league, it is nice to hear anbout a really great product.

Hello guys and let me say thats what i love about this great hobby the support and responses from fellow audiophiles when in need.
This is what i did. I swapped front to back and removed the damper. Same ping but right channel instead of left. I inserted one of the ec 88s into slot 4 and tried no ping. Slots 1 and 3 are the ones i want the CCAs in so i still have most of the benefit of the CCAs. Going to contact my seller and see what he has to say.
Thanks again all.

Stltrains,
I'm glad to hear that you isolated the bad tube. You might like this new configuration better. It's very similar to my configuration. I also hope that the seller will work with you on the exchange. Keep us posted on the sound with these new tubes.