Pre Amp under £1000 (Linn Exotic/Musical Fidelity A308cr?)

Tube Compliment: one 6X4 and two 12AU7

That's one tube rectifier in the PSU and two small signal tubes.
The 12AU7 should last many years but personally I'd replace the 6X4 every 18 months/two years, but there are no hard rules with any of this. 6X4 rectifiers cost a few pounds so it's no big deal.

 

It was exactly the same person as reccomended here on ZG Ali. Many people go on PFM aswell as ZG.

I'd really reccomend hearing it before you spend the best part of a thousand pounds.

 

I've seen dealers stocking the Prophet at £800, so £1000 sounds a bit rich, unless it's some later variant like a MkII or something. Maybe beat them down to £900?

Here's an Icon LA4 for £670. Not much of a discount here, so you should be able to haggle him down to £600 easily: http://www.hifidelityaudio.co.uk/preamplifier_icon_audio_la4.htm (EDIT: it's been upgraded with Jensen caps & 50's GEC tubes - nice )

Audio Consultants have a Rogue Audio Metis pre for £500. Bargain!

The tubes in the stages you mention last for ages and are cheap to replace. Rectifiers might be slightly less hardy, and slightly more expensive to replace (maybe 3000 hours and <£20 per tube).

DT

Might be worth bearing in mind wether you really want the transparency of something like a TVC, particularly if you're using it with budget ancilliaries, for the time being. You might find poor/compressed recordings a very difficult listen. Valves tend to be a little more accomodating in this situation....

 

Would the upgrades make a big difference?.

Does anyone know how the minimax pre compares to the LA4?.

 

I sent an e mail enquiry to the seller of the LA4 with upgrades.

Apparently it will actually cost £1000 with the jenson caps & 50's tubes!.

Also said the LA4 is much better than the minimax!?...:rds2:

 

you need to try some of these at home ali.

I know it sounds obvious, but it's the only way - and your budget deserves a home demo.

Either that, or buy something second hand for a cheap price, and sell it immediately if it doesn't float your boat.. hopefully without loss.

 

Looks like I will be putting the preamp on hold, for a few months at least, as im fairly certain that I will be buying my friends Roksan Caspian cd player which he is selling due to changing/upgrading (buying a shanling cd player).

The cd player is upgraded with trichord never connected power supply & a better clock. I know it definitely makes for an improvement & is probably a better upgrade for me right now than the preamp.

Will try to audition some pre's in a couple of months if possible...

Thanks for sharing the knowledge people!...

 

"Id also consider the Balanced Audio VK 3i. Does anyone else have any experience with this?"

Yes, I found it very noisey on quiet sections, so a rather poor signal to noise ratio. Forget what specs say, get a home demo.

 

just tried the M.F. A5 PRE, SUPER , IF YOU WANT TO HOME DEM, LET ME KNOW, NANDO.