What pre amp to use in my system?

What sources are you using,interconnects and speaker cables?
But since you like female vocals and want a smoother midrange that to me means a nice tube pre amp.

Lewinskih01:
Rotel RC 1070 is one of the candidates on my list, but it seems it has mix reviews, and it is more expensive than NAD or Adcom. Does it sound warm and smooth with the RB 1080?

Rleff:
For the tube preamp, it seems my choice are very limited for my budget of $400. I can see there is a Dynaco PAS 3, is it good? Is there other good suggestion? How do you feel about a home built unit? There is a local guy who build tube preamp, and he can build one for about $300, and he said it is "rebirth" of Pas 3, and from the photo, the circuits are very simple. Is it trust worthy?

Gte,

I can't answer how the RC1070 sounds as it's the first pre I've had and don't recall very well how others sounded back 5 years ago when I was hunting. I guess the RC1070 + RB1080 + B&W CM4 combo sounded better than other options back then. But remember that with the 804S I thought the sound was a bit too harsh, maybe due to the higher resolution of the 804 vs CM4.
Can you try it? Many Rotel dealers also carry B&W.

About home built units: be careful. Do you know people who have any of those units? Any reason why you should trust the person making the offer? Assuming it's a good faith offer, does he know enough to make you a good pre? Keep in mind resale value will likely be close to nothing.

Since it is a local dealer can you do a home audition?
I have no experience with the pas3;perhaps another member will have some information on that unit.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I agree with you about the resale value, since it is home built, it is impossible to find any reviews, and this is also one of the reason holding me back. I can go to do an audition, but it would be in his system, and it doesn't guarantee how it sound in my system. It seems a saver bet is to get a SS preamp like Rotel or NAD.

But you also think the RC 1070 + RB 1080 + CM 4 sounds a bit harsh, I think I will hold back for the Rotel since this is exactly the reason I sold my Adcom, and the Rotel is more expensive, so, it seems a bigger risk to take.