Upgrade dilemma

OK, I'm thinking of upgrading my pre-amp (ATC CA2) and have narrowed it down to a few options:

1) Progressive Audio have an Audio Synthesis Passion 8M on Ebay for £750, but they won't offer me trade-in on my current amp. However this is the upgrade I would be most tempted by, given all of the positive things I have heard about Audio Synthesis kit. I'm not sure of the relative age of the unit but it can't be more than a couple of years older than my ATC. It comes with remote and offboard PSU but not the original box.

I would hopefully be able to recoup around £275 for selling the ATC on here or Ebay, meaning my outlay would be £475.

2) Hifiguy will offer me £600 trade in on my ATC (that's £200 more than I paid for it folks!) if I pay an extra £350 towards a Conrad-Johnson Premier 14, complete with remote, box and manual.

3) Big Ears audio have a brand new Audio Note M-Zero pre (also with remote) for £699 but haven't specified how much they would give me for my ATC.

4) Stick with what I have got and buy some CDs

I'm pretty certain that both the Passion 8M and the Premier 14 would be an "improvement" on the ATC. Not so sure about the Audio Note. Pretty much all of my recent hi-fi purchases (amps and CD player) were bought on recommendation and without hearing them first, and I have been delighted at how my system has come on leaps and bounds in the past couple of years. What I really don't want to do is stretch my luck to breaking point with untested kit and end up with a complete duffer.

So, over to you - guide me with your wisdom comrades!

 

I think you need to listen to all three in your system at home.

 

I'd love to Coops, it's not an option unfortunately...

 

But without hearing them you could be buying something worse than your present pre, whereabouts are you? Keith.

 

I'm in Bristol and unfortunately don't have my own transport.

Cheers

Neil

 

Perhaps best to look out for them on Ebay, where they might be a little cheaper, buy two keep the best? Tricky! Keith.

 

I'm with Coops as to home demo; a couple of ways of achieving this:

- if the item you're looking at is second hand and a good price, then you can always buy it outright with a view to selling on again if you don't like it. Allows for a stressless and extended home trial and you're likely only risking a small amount of cash

- buy items from dealers on sale or return. You buy it, they post it to you, you listen and if you don't like it you post it back. I've done this before - you obvisouly need to keep the item in perfect condition and as a point of courtesy I would offer to share postage

I don't have experience of the amps you suggest, but I'd be sorely tempted by the premier 14 - that's well thought of. £600 is a good offer for trade in, but £950 is not cheap for a P14, so swings and roundabouts on that pricing.

 

I've had to go with blind upgrades like this before - sometimes the real world practicalities make it hard to avoid.

However, I'd always want to be able to retrace my steps and reverse what I've done. There was a time when upgrading to a better designed and built product was easy because what I was replacing was basically of low quality. The more advanced my system becomes, the more system matching takes priority over whether one component or another is 'better' on paper.

Or to put it more directly, try to keep your existing unit until you have settled on the next step and have demonstrated to yourself that it works in situ.

 

Looking at your options I would have thought the ATC to be in a league above the Audionote any way ,the Passion is probably in the same vein as the ATC but certainly the CJ is a good deal but ultimately it depends on the sound you are after and are you looking to mix solid state and valves? You have lived with that combo for a while.To be honest the ATC is a pretty good preamp

 

Thanks for the comments everyone. I've decided to bite the bullet and stick with what I have for the time being...