Is it possible that you are now hearing some grain and sharpness in the high end of the NHTs? I have small NHTs for my HT, with nowhere near the resolution you have in the rest of my HT system, but I know that some say that they can be bright. As for a pre, I like my BAT VK3i which I recently retubed with Siemens NOS E88CCs and NOS GE 6V6GTs. Bought the tubes on ebay at a pretty decent price and it sounds great. I do have Vandersteens which some call a little laid back, but it was a big improvement over the stock Sovteks (which admittedly may have been a little long in the tooth).
And Suzy, we understand your reluctance to name names but hopefully the recent changes here (moderated forum) will help tame the harshest flames. Glad to hear a new voice.
And Suzy, we understand your reluctance to name names but hopefully the recent changes here (moderated forum) will help tame the harshest flames. Glad to hear a new voice.