2. amps-preamps
  3. 1095897282

Good tube preamp w/ HT bypass

I've finally decided to snag an AVM30 for my pre-pro, and aragon 8008 amps for my amplification (or Sherbourne 7/2100 - I bought both, and will sell whichever I like less).

However, I keep hearing about tubes! I don't have any experience with them, but I'd love to give it a try. I've read that by combining SS amplification with tube preamps, I can preserve the bass control of the SS w/ the midrange of tubes.

SO - are there any preamps you can recommend to me to try and/or demo? I need it to have HT bypass, so I can use my HT rig separately from this...

I've read the Rogue Magnum 66 is good... The audio research sp-16l is supposed to be good... And the TAD-150 was recommended to me (http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD-150.html) but I can't find any other information on it.

Non tube pres that have been recommended to me are the sonic euphoria plc and adcom 750; but i'm not sure if either would better the avm30.

Oh; budget would be $500-1000, used or new. Thanks for any recommendations!
kincade
kincade OP
22 posts
 
Ok - so far:

Rogue Magnum 66 - 0 votes

The audio research sp-16l - 2 votes - too expensive

Sonic Frontiers Line 1-3 - 2 votes (3 is too expensive, and 2 looks to be also???)

belles 21A - 1 vote

Anthem Pre 2L? - 1 vote

Cary SLP2002 - 1 vote - too expensive

BAT VK3i - 1 vote

Looks like the Rogue is not well known at all; the sonic frontiers is the most popular. Does the SF come in any color but gold? It sounds stupid, but dang that would look ugly in my rack!

Tsmack; I've got a price of $2k new for the AVM30; let me know what info you have on a used amv20!

Thanks for all the comments so far! It looks like most have their definite favorites and haven't heard some of the others...

Keep 'em coming please!
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
SF came in gold or black. I have the latter.

Kal
btrvalik
61 posts
 
I have a CJ PV14L.. like the sound and it has a remote and HT bypass. Might be able to get close to budget used.
kincade OP
22 posts
 
Well; I seem to have ran up against another problem.

Will most of these preamps mentioned alter the sound even in bypass mode? I don't want a timbral shift when listening to my HT; but in another discussion, it was mentioned that most preamps will run through the tubes/etc even in bypass mode.

Anyone have an idea about this? Know of any preamps that pass the signal from in-out on the bypass mode without going through the circuitry?
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
I thought I posted this yesterday but I'll try again:

The SF Line series has dual paralleled outputs for SE and for BAL. How about feeding the HT L/R outs to one on the OUTS on the SF? As long as the HT pre/pro is off, it should not load the SF running in stereo. As long as the SF is off, the HT output should be fed directly to the other SF OUT and on to its amp.

I have not tried this and I cannot be certain it will work but it may be a solution.
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