Audible illusions Modulus 3A or Klyne 6L

Thank you Jerry ! It says it all ! Why to and when not to...

Methodology, you now know everything you probably didn't know before. Take your pick !

Regards !

Wahwah, thankyou. Although I have owned my Audible Illusions preamp for a short period time & leave the preamp powered up most of the time, I have not experienced any tube failure yet.

Reviews are important but the real test of any preamp is to listen to it in your own system and draw your own conclusions. Since the Audible Illusions preamp purchase, friends & family that are very familiar with the previous sonics of my system have noticed a remarkable improvement overall in sound quality. In fact the Audible Illusions makes all previous preamps sound broken. I won't go into a lengthy description of the obvious improvements but it is safe to say I'm in it for the long haul.

This post is a little late but Aesthetix had issues with their 12AX7's in the Calypso preamp. It ate them for lunch and I should know. I spent enough on replacement tubes. However, it you finally got a good pair, it was wonderful. Jim White is a very good designer and easy to talk. I think he builds excellent equipment but it does have quirks.
They're other preamps that eat tubes so to speak. Andr, Aesthetix didn't mention it being hard on tubes or requiring certain tubes.
The AI's in my personal experience are not tube eaters. That's all I can say and it is from personal experience. People jump on these bandwagons for whatever reason.
Andr, sorry, but what you tell is not experience in my book. You need to own one, live with it and then you can talk all you want. People have all kinds of reasons for selling and dealers have all kinds of reasons for dropping lines (usually something to do with profit margin.)
As for not putting NOS tubes in it, it is on the AI websight and a competent dealer would tell you. I would think they should have experience.
As for sound, that's up to each individual to make the call.
A lot of the preamps people bring up in comparison are not there to me. Try comparing side by side, not on memory of what you think something sounded like. It's the only way to know for sure. I've found a lot of other things bring about sound change.
Also, one last comment, Art and his crew have always been excellent with me. Art shipped my L2 to me so it arrived Christmas day! Try that with another manufacturer.
They are a small company and as such, are slower. However, patience is a virtue. They've been around long enough to see a bunch of other companies drop out and to me, they must be doing something right.

I owned the AI M3A for around two years. I never had a problem with the stock Sovteks or a pair of NOS Tungsram. What I didn't like was the high gain and stepped attenuators. Too much tweaking involved. The sound with good vinyl was amazing though. For someone who listens primarily to vinyl I think that they are a great value.

People who own things will rarely accept that it may not be the best buy because they love it, and defend it because they chose it. It is a normal self esteem and pride behavior well known in all of us. I will not myself accept easily my gear beeing downgraded. But that's the price of objectivity. To accept others will make different choices than my own and be totally right about them. Hiding facts on a thing because I own one is a no no for me, sorry gentlemen !

That beeing said, it is unfeasible to make clear headed choices between audio units,as numerous as they are, if the condition is to own one or live with one for awhile in order to have sufficient experience to have an opinion. Even companies who have a policy of loaning equipment and taking it back if not satisfied will not accept if you keep it more than a week.

I've heard the AI several times, a couple of hours each time, and it was quite sufficient for me to make my own opinion about it. How ? Simply because I have the chance to compare a lot of preamps on the same basic system at the audio association. And it was brought many times to the club. And I said AI was fine sounding because I had the opportunity of comparing with many other preamps. And I could easily hear the differences. A very good unit at its price level. And yes, it has competition in it's group and it is a matter of taste. But if you want me to admit it is comparable to a VAC Standard LE or a Conrad Johnson Premier 16 LS2, well you are simply and respectfully out of your minds.

Again, the AI is well documented to be a hard machine on tubes. Just have a look on the web or even here on Audiogon, there was multiple discussions on the subject and that's a fact. If you can't accept it and won't look at the info, you may deny it but the info will still be there ! Some say it is because it has a lot of gain, some others will say it is because the tubes stay lit in order to preserve the tubes, some others say the preamp generates vibrations harmful to a lot of NOS tubes....All sorts of possibilities, to a unique and same problem ! Do your own search ! In conclusion, at the best, you will be told only very specific tubes (russians) will fit in them. People who like to try some other tubes to better tune a unit to their taste are taking a chance and AI DOES warn them accordingly. At worst,you will burn out precious NOS tubes if unaware ! Hey, what's wrong with that ! Did I say AI was dishonest, NO ! Did I say it was a bad unit ? NO !

I was just answering, informing somebody, who didn't say he had knowledge of this unit to be aware of the problem. If the matter is of no concern to him, I'm sure he will enjoy the unit as much as aybody who cherishes AI. But to hide the facts, to deny others their testemonies and experiences because you never witnessed it or simply because you are defending your choice, is wrong in my book.
Regards !