Valve preamplifier, which one?

[Andy1912]

I favour E.A.R. as they're British (and local), well designed and built and have reasonable servicing costs, but seems you fancy American stuff.[/QUOTE]


I have EAR pre and power amps and they are very good + servicing and repair costs are indeed reasonable and overseen by the designer himself! I too tend toward UK products. I have a Tron 7 phono stage which is similarly fabulous so would imagine the preamps are also good. The Tron power amps are prohibitively expensive though, for me at least.

 

[hifinutt]

Nice owner review here
http://www.hifiwigwam.com/showthread.php?80340-puresound-L10
http://www.brecklandaudio.co.uk/pure_sound_l10_ba.pdf

yes that was mine and a very fine piece of kit for the money

 

[heidcase music]

This......Conordant Excelsior Preamp/Phono Valve Power Supply
Full original working condition. Has valve phono stage also included
very nice condition
Rare and collectible item
£650
I had one for years and my biggest regret was selling it. It is available in the classified section on here I have no connection with the amp or the seller. Was tempted but nowhere to put it

 

[paskinn]

Go for a Croft 25R or a 25RS.
May not look like much but stunning sound quality for relatively little money and superb MM phono stage as well

Yep. Ridiculously good, but too cheap for some people. And I speak as someone who used an SP 11-2 for years. That Concordant is also a tremendous bit of kit; it can really bring a system to life.

 

[topoxforddoc]

I too tend toward UK products. I have a Tron 7 phono stage which is similarly fabulous so would imagine the preamps are also good. The Tron power amps are prohibitively expensive though, for me at least.

The TRON preamps are every bit as good as the stand alone phono stages. The top end power amps are very expensive, but the new TRON Atlantic 300B looks much more "affordable".

http://www.tron-electric.co.uk/products/view/atlantic

 

[lennyw]

I have three friends who, not having gone down the kids route, seem to have infinite money to spend on hifi -- they all ended up with Audio Research amplification. That said, they are all three classical fans. Enough to make me buy AR's VSi60 and I haven't looked back. I'd hunt around for a suitable one S/H within your budget. They seem to come up on ebay reasonably often (have you looked at hifi shark?).

 

[torstoi]

puresound L10 seems a good idea to me too
Guy is very nice and helpful and I had the pleasure talking him once a while ago, he is (or was ) also active in PFM.

Aside from that I second muzzers thoughts about the deck / phonostage proportion.
While the 'can't be too big' can be claimed for many instances,
seemly prooven by the fact it does sound better,
I generally also tend to ask myself how much of what is possible I do not get to hear.

Without aiming to point onto any specific deck, I'd try to listen to a few phantastic decks via your EAR to get an idea how much of the EARs potential your deck is refusing to show you.
From where you are coming I'd not suggest a Linn route, but I tend to think coming from a Project there is a big amount of innovatively great designs now for relatively decent money and even s/h via which you could have a great effect from both the new deck and your EAR too.
I other words I think your deck is the weakest spot in the system.

The L10, nontheless is a very fine choice, for sure..

 

[spedey_74]

Thanks to all for your answers!