$18k Tube preamp for large scale symphonies please

Yes, thanks Charles.
You are spot on with what i feel towards VAC and i know you understand what i'm trying to ask about Dude. just a slight pity that i haven't have the slightest idea how does the Dude sounds. Glad you understands me anyway :-)
Thanks.

Phillip,
Reading your posts and various impressions it seems you have very astute and musical ears. I get the sense you really love music and enjoy listening to it.Between the CSL and VAC SIG. it could simply come down to what amplifier you use and the make up of your system.

Both are ultra music makers and would make you very happy and content. Once you get to a certain level of performance it`s the little things you notice that will provoke a choice one way or the other. What`s the chance of getting both into your system, listen and just see what happens? Your ears will eventually decide.Both are fabulous, neither is 'perfect'.
Charles,

Phillip, What you are talking about here is low IM (InterModulation) distortion in the preamp.

Its one thing to have low noise, that is the noise floor with no signal. Its another thing to not have the preamp editorialize with the signal. That is the low IM distortion.

You need very clean power supplies and good bandwidth, plus a simple and linear active circuit to get there.

One thing that you may not have considered is the effect of the interconnect on the sound of the system. Interconnects can contribute to the 'dark background' aspect as well. It is the job of the line section in the preamp to control the interconnect cable. Most preamps whether active or passive do a poor job of this. What is ideal is if changing the cable makes no difference at all regardless of the cable.

You will not find such a preamp that uses RCAs but they do exist if the preamp is balanced (the balanced line system was created to eliminate interconnect cable artifacts). Something to think about....

Atmasphere, why don't you bring 3 different balanced interconnects to CES and let us see if you can hear differences. This can be done after hours.

Philipwu,

I was in your position shopping for a preamp. I demoed pre (Einstein, Shindo Vosne-Romanee, Doshi ...) for months, in most cases it was in unfamiliar systems and they all sounded excellent. I could live with any of them and finally settled on a VAC SigMKIIa.

The sound you desire can be achieved through tube rolling with a GOOD preamp. The VAC SigMKIIa is very sensitive to tube rolling. With stock tubes, sound is soft, round, a bit veiled ... IN GENERAL, if you want transparency, open, dynamics ... use German tubes. Full body, sweet ... British tubes and a combo of both, Amperex, Philip Hollland. I use German tubes and also upgrading the fuse will improve the sound dramatically.

I suggest purchase a pre with EASY tube rolling options and dial in the sound you desire. Another good pre is Atma MP-1. I never demo but recommened to me by trusted ears. 6sn7 based so easy to roll.

If you plan to use your pre with many different amps, get one with low output impedance. From my experience, the ability for a pre to drive an amp properly is most important for excellent complete sound.