I will be pleased to know your opinion, about which can be the 3 best tube preamplifiers, with a price, NEW, under $18.000. I want to use them with SS amplifiers.
The ARC Ref-5 is definitely a nice pre and I would only recommend it if you can live with the fact that Audio Research will come out with a Ref 6 in about 3 months and that your ARC 5 will not be upgradable.
I would seriously have to stretch a couple of grand for the BAT REX or get the VK52se which may not be the best under 18k but it is upgradeable to the rex which is one of the if not the best pre-amps out there at any price.
As the proud owner of a VAC Ren pre, I was flabergasted (astounded, amazed, etc) when I heard the Veloce LS1 battery powered tube preamp (about $14k or so). This is easily the single most dynamic, blackest background, most musical pre that I have ever heard in any system. Having taken one home for audition ( with the corresponding matching phono stage also battery powered), I am now in the process of trying to figure out how to pay for the one I have ordered.
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