I think you need to lower your expectations or raise your budget, for the record I have a tube pre and it is on 24/7 with over a year on it with no tube changes. Like I assume you know the MC is probably the deal breaker, most in that budget will be MM only....and probably not very good.
Help me buy a magical pre-amp that doesn't exist
I'm looking for a pre-amp, to go along with my new Behringer A500, with quite specific requirements. So far, it seems that this magical pre-amp does not exist, mostly due to the first requirement
-Costs in line with the Behringer. I will be selling a Rotel RA-02 Integrated amp so I'll have a budget of about $300-500, give or take as I'm willing to throw in some other money too if needed, to work with.
-Good sound, obviously. Neutral, no hiss.
-Solid state. I tend to leave my amps on 24/7 so tubes are frowned upon for this reason.
-Remote control. My laziness demands it.
-Balanced outputs/(at least one) input. I would prefer to run completely balanced, since I'm going into a pro crossover to separate my speakers and bass bins, then to the A500.
-Reasonable cosmetics. I hate the 80ies look. This puts Linn gear I've seen in a bad light that fits pretty much every other requirement.
-MC phono stage! Ooh, I bet you guys all hate me now. There go 99% of the candidates.
-A 12v trigger would be nice too, but it's not a make-or-break feature.
So far, through research and recommendations I've come up with the following, in order of price:
Classe Thirty
Linn LK-1
NAD 116
Classe Five
Anybody know of others? Any thoughts between these four?
The NAD fits every requirement but might not sound as nice as the others. It's also a lot harder to find! Some suggestions or comments would be so greatly appreciated!
-Costs in line with the Behringer. I will be selling a Rotel RA-02 Integrated amp so I'll have a budget of about $300-500, give or take as I'm willing to throw in some other money too if needed, to work with.
-Good sound, obviously. Neutral, no hiss.
-Solid state. I tend to leave my amps on 24/7 so tubes are frowned upon for this reason.
-Remote control. My laziness demands it.
-Balanced outputs/(at least one) input. I would prefer to run completely balanced, since I'm going into a pro crossover to separate my speakers and bass bins, then to the A500.
-Reasonable cosmetics. I hate the 80ies look. This puts Linn gear I've seen in a bad light that fits pretty much every other requirement.
-MC phono stage! Ooh, I bet you guys all hate me now. There go 99% of the candidates.
-A 12v trigger would be nice too, but it's not a make-or-break feature.
So far, through research and recommendations I've come up with the following, in order of price:
Classe Thirty
Linn LK-1
NAD 116
Classe Five
Anybody know of others? Any thoughts between these four?
The NAD fits every requirement but might not sound as nice as the others. It's also a lot harder to find! Some suggestions or comments would be so greatly appreciated!
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- 23 posts total
- 23 posts total