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new preamp, with remote, to pair with mcintosh mc240 tube amplifier?

madwing

madwing

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i am going to soon have a completely redone mc240 to play in our main system, and i'd like to surprise my wife with a preamp that has a remote and digital capabilities so she can stream her music and be able to use the stereo relatively easily.

i've looked about here and there, and can't really tell what are my choices. the preamp doesn't have to have tubes (though they're nice, obvs.), but does need to have a phono input (i'll hook up my empire 598 directly using an MM cartridge), at least two line-level inputs, so i can use a LOMC if i want to through my hypnotoaded cambridge audio 640p, and also plug in a cd/dvd/blueray player. HDMI and/or optical connections would be great; i have a topping d50s dac through which (if the preamp didn't have it directly) my wife could stream her spotify, and plugging in the tv to use my 2-channel system would be excellent.

that's a laundry list. and i can't figure out what is available (i get a different answer each time i try to search for a single answer)...any help would be much appreciated. even reframing the questions so i can go find out with a new framework of questions :) many thanks.
 
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sorry, but that's outside my budget. i should have specified: i'd like to spend something like $3K or less.
 
thanks for that. and in looking up info on that i found the parasound halo p6. interesting stuff!
 
Audio Classics has a C48 listed for $3999.00. I’d give them a call (ask for Ryan or Steve). Tell them your laundry list, speakers/system, budget, remote needs, and etc. They can give you a discount/and/or suggest other used McIntosh preamps or those by other brands that will provide you with what you need and mate well with your system.
 
Bushikan said:
Audio Classics has a C48 listed for $3999.00. I’d give them a call (ask for Ryan or Steve). Tell them your laundry list, speakers/system, budget, remote needs, and etc. They can give you a discount/and/or suggest other used McIntosh preamps or those by other brands that will provide you with what you need and mate well with your system.
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thanks, bushikan! i’ll look into that. much appreciated.
 
A Schitt Freya + F has a remote and leaves enough in the budget for a different DAC if you wanted.
 
Reasonably piced preamps with truly fine phono sections that are capable of doing justice to a Mac tube amp are going to be older high end preamps from the days when vinyl was relevant ...
Acoustic Research, Electrocompaniet, Conrad Johnson ... there are others ..
Finding the excptional phono sections will be worth the time, study, and investment with that amp.

Think hard though ... truly fine vinyl is an expensive undertaking ..
And IMO any modern preamp for that amp is going to a multi-thousand dollar device.

Luck ..
Enjoy the Music ..
 
New McIntosh Preamps are way over your budget. Rotel however has this very nice old school style dual mono preamp with Balanced inputs and outputs, a Remote, Phono stage, DAC, and Bluetooth. You get the benefits of your tube power amp, With the flexibility of a modern stereo preamp.

www.rotel.com

RC-1590

For music enthusiasts who won’t accept compromise, the reference RC-1590 preamplifier is in a class by itself.
www.rotel.com www.rotel.com

Rotels higher end Integrated Amps look like the best value, but since you have a fine power amp, This preamp is a better choice.
 
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thanks, all. after much consideration i went with the emotiva xsp-2. it arrives friday, but since it's my wife's birthday/retirement gift it'll wait until a month from now to get fully set up (i will open it up and test it with the amp when she's at work, then re-wrap it and wait until the end of october).
 
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