Tube Research Labs Dude vs. Shindo Labs preamps

Latinsamba, there is a lot of good equipment out there, and the Tron pre-amp may be a good piece, but unfortunately, Vinyl caught you with your pants down. You heard two "systems" and liked one better than the other. You cannot surmise much from that experience until you plug different pre-amps into your own rig. Of course, I am guilty of hypocrisy here. I have participated in multiple drive-by shootings on Audiogon.

Speaking of your rig, I was intrigued by your single driver speaker with a driver fabricated out of hemp....that made me chuckle. Dude....

Vinyl, I agree with your observations on sound vs music. Endless ruminations about sound may be one manifestation of an unsatisfying and unmusical system. On the flip side, I have heard systems that were billed as "musical" only to find them unmusical in that they came off as soggy and slow hifi. These systems did not produce an effective auditory illusion.

"The Dude abides...."

Just to mention that the ShindoAuriges line stage is under $3000 new. I have the Auriges with the mm phono stage and it is wonderful at $4500

That's fair I suppose. I would have loved to demo both in my system but unfortunately that's not possible without buying. If someone wants to bring their Monbrison or Masseto over to my place (NYC) we can do a honest A/B comparison :)

C'mon now somebody must want to go to NY this thread is just gettin way too good.

Ahendler, kool system. I spent 11 years in MN (Maggie country) and always enjoyed hearing them. Are the antique amps able to drive them adequately? You also seem to have a tight and narrow listening space. My friends who owned them always struggled a little in setup....