Thoughts from Joule preamp owners?

Gregfisk, I am glad to hear you are happy with the improvements from MkII to SE. I was very close to making a deal on a new SE earlier this year, especially because of some great specials available through Joule, but ultimately decided to stay away from tubes for reasons of simplicity and because I am stuck with a pair of great amps that only support balanced signals.
I continue to believe the Tom Evans (in the Lithos 7 iteration with the Pulse II power supply) is one of the best sounding preamps available in the $10K and under price range. The used prices are stupid low relative to the sound quality. I finally moved on from mine solely because of the balanced issue.
I am now happily using a very custom SMc Audio preamp that supports balanced inputs and outputs. And it is every bit as good as the Tom Evans, and better in some ways.
I would still jump at a chance to try a LA-450ME!

The descriptions given of the Joule preamps above are quite diverse. I used to own the LAP 150 MK 2. My take on it was that it had a very nice,full,warm sound, though I wanted a tad more extension on the top. I eventually wound up with the EAR 88PB phono preamp, which gave me that extra extension, but leaned more toward the "neutral" side. However, I still remember the Joule with fondness.

"I upgraded my MK11 to the SE and I can tell you that the sound is the same only much better... "

Luv it !

I have to say I have been listening to the Platinum upgrade to my Joule LAP-150SE for a couple of months now. It is money well spent. I am very happy with my sound. Of course I have made lots of changes moving into my dedicated room with acoustic panels on the walls and bass traps in the corners and using dedicated isolated power. I believe the sound is a definite step up.

Hi Coxhaus. The Platinum upagrde is very substantial technical improvment and had great effect on the sound in my system. For example, highs while not more extended became much more resolved and....seductive. Three-dimensionality noticeably increased etc

All The Best