2. amps-preamps
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I'm considering replacing my passive preamp with a tubes. Is it worth it?

I would like to know if it would be worth it to trade my passive preamp for tube.  Would the change make a significant improvement?  

My setup:

Magnepan MG .7
Mod Squad Line Drive passive preamp
Bryston 4b-st amp
Rythmik f12 sub
Bluesound Node
Tidal streaming

My budget on a preamp would be $1k.  If the answer is "yes" then opinions would be welcomed.

thanks



amritash
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
Class A preamp
All active preamps are Class A, I don't know of one that's Class A/B or B.

Cheers George
auxinput
1,538 posts
 

George,

Are you absolutely sure about that?  If you're talking about tube preamp, I could probably see that as being true because of the nature of how tubes work.  However, solid-state preamps do not necessarily have to be biased into Class A mode.  It's a specific circuit design that does this.  This is true for both monolithic op amps and fully discrete analog circuits.  I have found that if the manufacturer has not specifically stated that their device is Class A, I will assume it's Class AB.

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
Almost 100%. from what I’ve seen none have left Class A and gone into A/B, I think a manufacturer would be mad to do that with a preamp, do you know one that does?

Cheers George
amritash OP
26 posts
 
I bought myself an Audible Illusions Modulus 2D yesterday.  It popped up priced under 500 and I leapt on it.   I am very excited.  It should be here next by early next week.
valis666
2 posts
 
I have used Audible Illusions L1 tube pre-amp very nice. 
Do a google galen carol (out of TX) he sometimes has refurbished AI under $1K. 
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