Lamm, Cary and Parsifal Encore - what combo?

Dennis - a Hovland HP-100 may not necessarily have phono board in it as mine did not and I very much enjoyed it and it sold for around $3K. Now I did audition the Lamm LL2 deluxe up against it and found them to be more different than one being better than the other and I think it would be more of a system match with your amp which I am not familiar with. I found the Hovland to be more neutral and the Lamm to be more relaxed with great timing but maybe a little less detail than the Hovland at least in my system and most importantly with my 46 year old ears.

I can say that the Hovland stayed the longest in my rack was only displaced by the big Lamm (L2 ref) although thats now gone too and maybe I have a bit of seller's remorse with the Hovland and would consider the HP-200 if one at the right price came along.

As far as bang for the buck I think the LL2 deluxe is a great preamp and they can be bought for less than $3K without fail.

just thought i'd give an update on where i finally landed... i got a hovland hp100, up to current specs, and am using some finely matched, low noise mullard 12ax7 from andy at vintage tube svcs, and a cleartop rca for the 12au7 (not using the phono stage, so just got some cheapos in there). the hovland is sitting on some walker valid points, and i got some walker HDL for the speakers. everything is sounding AMAZING. i'm goin to be listening for a while, but i have a feeling i might be swapping in some 12ax7 that are a little more open on top, just hoping i can get a little more air without sacrificing the midrange that is just absolutely the best i've heard in my system. not bloated, not slow, so open, and still very palpable... really enjoying it!

Thanks for the update Steve, I'm glad you are enjoying the rig. I thought the Hovland would make a great match, though I am currently using a ARC Ref 3 myself. If you are not using the phono stage, why not just take the tubes out and save the wear altogether? They may come in handy later in 'emergency duty'.
Are you still running the Legend Audio triode monos? How do you like them?

For that little more air, you may want to try either some silver ribbon cables (RSAD) or some of the Jade Audio Vermeil or Hybrid gold/silver cables, Gabriel Gold Revelations may also work for you. Personally, I would recommend the latter two. I found that silver, while initially enjoying the new transparency, eventually I preferred the gold mixed with the silver. Better extension than the PAD cables, but still truer harmonics than pure silver. The Jade Audio Hybrid's are the best I've yet heard, but can be a little pricey. The Vermeil is a steal at it's asking price, IMHO. You have 30 days to decide for yourself.

John

hey john. yep, still running legend audio triodes. everything sounds great, but the amps are new, the preamp is new, and the speakers are relatively new, so i'm still settling into the sound. it's incredibly open, very 3 dimensional, great balance from top to bottom, good imaging which probably could be a ton better with some room treatments, and actually a nice tight bottom end, the top end maybe could be a little more open, definitely think mullards all throughout is not the way to go. i'm sort of curious to see what a higher powered amp could do, but i think i'm sitting with what i've got for a while. RE: the cabling... not sure i want to swap cables, i really love the PAD sound. would rather swap out some tubes... overall less expensive, at least imho.

Steve, you are correct, swapping tubes is definitely cheaper. I didn't really notice that you were using Mullards throughout, yes this would be a good place to start. I've always been more of an Amperex fan myself, though Siemens will also give you more life up top. Mullards are great if you have a tad too much high end, but not so much so if you seek more sparkle, IMHO.