Tube Preamp Reviews

Tube Power Amp Reviews Tube Preamp Reviews

PrimaLuna ProLogue Three tube preamplifier & Seven monoblock amplifier

Robert Deutsch Dec 24, 2006 First Published: Dec 24, 2006

Everybody loves a bargain. No—make that: Most people love a bargain. Some just want the best, and they don't care about the cost. Some even distrust and reject out of hand any product that's not expensive enough. If you're one of these people, you might as well stop reading this review right now—the PrimaLuna ProLogue Three and ProLogue Seven are not for you. $1395 for a tube preamp? $2695 for a pair of 70Wpc tube monoblocks equipped with four KT88 tubes each? Must be based on old designs in the public domain using cheap parts carelessly assembled...

Tube Preamp Reviews

Audio Research Reference 3 line preamplifier

Paul Bolin Dec 17, 2006 First Published: Dec 17, 2006

In any category of product or service, there is a gold standard—one company that epitomizes the best in its field of endeavor. Consider the Rolex watch, the Ferrari sports car, the Steinway piano, the Dunhill pipe. All of these artisanal manufacturers have spent decades, even centuries, earning their names' cachet with their histories of consistent excellence. While high-end audio boasts no names with a 60-year pedigree, such as Ferrari's—much less Steinway & Sons' +150 years—there is one firm whose storied past stretches back to the very emergence of the concept of high-end audio itself: Audio Research Corporation.

Tube Preamp Reviews Headphone Reviews

Melos SHA-Gold headphone amplifier

Wes Phillips Dec 03, 2006 First Published: Jul 03, 1996

It's hard to know what to call the SHA-Gold. It is a superb headphone amplifier—maybe even the target all future headphone amps need to shoot at—but it's also a full-function preamplifier. At two grand, it's not exactly a unit you'd add to your current system just to get a headphone connection...Wait a minute! What am I saying? I'm sure that there are folks out there who would add this to their existing reference systems as casually as I'd buy the Audio">http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/796alchemy">Audio Alchemy headphone amplifier—but they'd be missing out on a great line stage.

Art Dudley Listening Tube Preamp Reviews

Listening #46

Art Dudley Oct 29, 2006 First Published: Oct 29, 2006

"It's a series of tubes."—Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), explaining how the Internet works

Tube Preamp Reviews

Cary Audio Design SLP 05 preamplifier

Art Dudley Sep 23, 2006 First Published: Sep 23, 2006

RCA's time-honored 6SN7 may be the coolest tube of all. The octal-based dual-triode has its own Wikipedia entry—something not even the 2A3 or 300B can boast—along with its own websitehttp://www.6SN7.com">website;. The 6SN7 is chunky, rugged, and handsome. Best of all, it's available, probably because people keep coming up with very good uses for it. In that sense, the 6SN7 is the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup of the tube world.

Solid State Preamp Reviews Tube Preamp Reviews

McIntosh C1000 preamplifier system

Michael Fremer Aug 27, 2006 First Published: Aug 27, 2006

Still burning in my bank of childhood memories are misty images of the glowing green lettering on the McIntosh tube preamps and tuners that populated the windows of the audio stores that once lined lower Manhattan's Cortlandt Street. Leonard's and most of those other retailers are long gone—as are most of the audio brands that shared their windows with McIntosh, and that once symbolized the might of American innovation and manufacturing. Even the World Trade Center, the controversial complex that replaced Cortlandt Street's "Radio Row," where the hi-fi industry was born, is tragically gone.

Tube Preamp Reviews

Conrad-Johnson CT5 line preamplifier

Wes Phillips Jul 23, 2006 First Published: Jul 23, 2006

If you review hi-fi long enough, you get to the point where you've heard it all before. Actually, there are several versions of that point: One is where you've heard all the claims before, and the other is where you could have sworn you've actually heard this component before.

Tube Preamp Reviews

EAR 912 preamplifier

Art Dudley Dec 24, 2005 First Published: Dec 24, 2005

My opinions keep changing—more evidence of life before death, I suppose—including my thoughts on audio-system hierarchies. I used to think that preamps were among the most sonically influential components, certainly more so than power amplifiers. I'm not so sure anymore (footnote 1).

Solid State Power Amp Reviews Tube Preamp Reviews

Musical Fidelity kW Hybrid line preamplifier & kW750 power amplifier

Michael Fremer Dec 18, 2005 First Published: Dec 18, 2005

Not every audiophile needs an amplifier powerful enough to tax a small town's power grid while simultaneously draining his or her bank account. So, having quickly sold out of its ultra-limited-edition, extravagantly powered and priced combo of kWp preamplifier ($14,995) and kW power amp ($27,995) that I reviewed">http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/104mf">reviewed in January 2004, Musical Fidelity (footnote 1) set about capitalizing on the enthusiastic reviews earned by those giants with less expensive, less powerful, "real-world" replacements.

Tube Power Amp Reviews Tube Preamp Reviews

Balanced Audio Technology VK-3iX preamplifier & & VK-55 power amplifier

Robert Deutsch Nov 26, 2005 First Published: Nov 26, 2005

It's been 10 years since Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) introduced their first products: the VK-5 line-stage preamplifier and the VK-60 power amplifier. (I reviewed">http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/766">reviewed both in the December 1995 Stereophile, Vol.18 No.12.) The success of these and other BAT products has allowed designer Victor">http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/767">Victor Khomenko (the "VK" of the model designations) and partner Steve Bednarski to quit their day jobs at Hewlett-Packard; they were joined by Geoff Poor as a partner to handle the sales end of the enterprise. BAT's current lineup includes several preamps, phono stages, a CD player, and tube as well as solid-state amplifiers. The top of BAT's preamp range is the VK-51SEhttp://www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/1103bat">VK-51SE;, which costs $9000; their top tube power amp is the VK-150SE">http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/536">VK-150SE monoblock ($17,000/pair); if you want their best phono stage, the VK-P10http://www.stereophile.com/phonopreamps/871">VK-P10; will set you back $8000.