Best Tubed Preamp For A Warm, Rich Sound, Yet Still Detailed and Agile


As the title says, I am looking for an exceptional preamp (obviously tubed) with warmth and liquidity, some of that golden glow, in the midrange and highs. I do not want slowness, or lack of detail, however. My budget is up to $6,000.00, for a used model. 

Based on my research, many of those that might make the list are very rare to find, and other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. 


nightfall
If you have not had a Direct Heated Triode preamplifier,, it is thr purest sound you 
Will find . After having  every type. This is the most direct type without question ,
Single ended. I am using a custom Lundahl based 4P1L Vacuum tube 
Preamp.  For 1/2 your  $6'k budget  you can best preamps are 3-4 that in resolution and refinement, Radu Tarta is one of the best engineers 
I have ever met .p.s just look up this tube it is probably the most linear Vacuum tube for  music ,just research  the 4P1L  Vacuum Tube.
nightfall
Best Tubed Preamp For A Warm, Rich Sound, Yet Still Detailed and Agile. I do not want slowness, or lack of detail, however.
As a starting point, I suggest you look for a tube preamp that has low output impedance, something below <1kohm (<1000ohms) 20hz to 20khz, as that will ensure it can drive comfortably any poweramp input, even if it’s 10kohm input impedance, without any added colourations, eg: fatness/thickness/thinness, slowness, rolled off.
Then pick your choices from there.

You could even though it’s much cheaper than your budget, for a trial period try the Schiit Freya, remote control, passive, active s/s, or active tube, balanced or single ended, if you don’t like it you can send it back.
http://schiit.com/products/freya

Cheers George

deHavilland UltraVerve. Wish I still had mine. So good. Outstanding resolution and detail, big tone and can boogie.

Cheers,

Scott




nightfall 

You have enough in your budget to get the deHavilland Mercury 3 which is an upgrade over the UltraVerve which is an exceptional preamplifier. I was a dealer for them for about 12 years and we had a room together at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver. Deliriously good. 

http://www.dehavillandhifi.com