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.
If you only have one source and it is digital the an $18000 pre amp is a big waste of money. It is a very expensive way to turn the volume LESS DOWN. $18 grand could go along way to improve a system in other ways.
Having owned CAT, Joule, and Atma-sphere, I would say that 6550c's observation should be given some serious consideration; you at least need to try a Passive - in the right system, you may not need to spend $18,000 to have SOTA sound. Try a Bent Tap-x for $1,000-$2,500; it is worth comparing to anything mentioned here (not that it would be your first choice, but for some, yes).
Agree with Pubul57. Good AVC or TVC passive may beat any active preamp (price no object) in the right system of course. Otherwise I`d be tempted by Concert Fidelity. This along with Silicon Arts and FM Acoustics are supposed to be the very best in the market.
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