tube pre suggestion

Tvad,

Although I never got to audition an Audio Horizons pre, due to some shipping complications, I can tell you Victor and Joseph are outstanding folks. Be patient if you haven't received a reply yet, Victor volunteers his help as chief communicator because Joseph's English is limited. Hope this helps a bit.

HI Guys--I just wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions so far. Audiogon is filled with great people and sometimes in our hobby it's hard to get advice from people who don't have hidden agendas.

Stevecham--the Krell integrated does sound very good with the Thiels. I'm running that combo now...one of the nuforce amps died on me. No idea what went wrong there, but my dealer is taking good care of me and is working out a good price on the upgrade as compensation.

Tvad--you are right with my taste in presentation! Good guess ;)

Thanks again for all the suggestions--I'll poke around and will check out the recommended units. If there are any other ideas please feel free to toss them in the ring...

-Sam

Mute or Balance features are common on preamps costing $3000+

my preamp has neither, but I can't imagine trading it since I get everything I wanted from all the tube preamps I tried, plus stone dead quietness, and no tubes to mess with. It is a Tom Evans Vibe & Pulse.

If you need the tubes, the best I have owned in my system are a fully decked out AtmaSphere MP3 and a VTL 5.5, both of which I thought bettered the highly rated Calypso and SF Line 3SE. I would also like to try Joule-Electra. All of these range from the top of your budget to about 50% higher. Good luck.

I am not a tube preamp expert by any stretch but I believe I struck gold upon my first venture into tubes. I purchased a AE-3 DJH signature (cary) preamp. This preamp is not the soft or rolled off variety of tube preamp. It is dynamic and has an open sound. I have owned the Krell integrated and the Krell KRC3 preamp. While I enjoyed both of those units, I much prefer the sound of this little AE-3 preamp. I have experimented with tube rolling and it does further improve its sound. In a head to head comparison in my system I thought it bettered the VTL 5.5. It is important to realize that this preamp is not real flexible having only 3 inputs and only one set of outputs (RCA only).

Tvad,
Victor's e-mail address at Audio Horizon is:

vcomerchero@sbcglobal.net Unless he's traveling, I'm sure that he'll get back with you promptly. He's always been very responsive to my e-mails, unless he's on the road. Regarding the preamp's lack of mute switch and balance control, I don't know why Joseph didn't include them. I never bothered to ask as these two features weren't relevant to me. My guess on his omitting the balance switch is that it would degrade the sound. This preamp matches very well with my VAC Musicblocs.