[big daddy russ]

I've been looking for a xo/line driver for my old school setup and came across the MTube.

Does anyone have any experience with it? Positive, negative, or indifferent?

I'm only concerned with SQ and have always loved the sound of tube amps. This preamp seems to have enough output voltage (Soundstream claims 10 volts continuous, 14 volts peak) to run my old amps noise-free, but I've heard good and bad about Soundstream's new stuff.

Any help appreciated.

For reference, my setup's going to be a Pioneer HU with 4-volt preouts going to two pre-DEI A/D/S amps. A/D/S separates for the front stage and a single Image Dynamics IDQ 10 for bass.

 

[Tone]

I wouldn't. I looked into these a couple of years ago and concluded that they probably won't give any noticeable warmth or accuracy. You are way better off using warm tweeters like the A/D/S silk units, a good Class A/B amp, and a good 10+ band equalizer to remove any harshness like the AudioControl EQL that can act as a line driver too. Then buy a seperate x-over like the Soundstream SVX2. It would be a good idea to prepare/deaden/seal your doors correctly and have your sub box built by a pro too - done right that can add alot of warmth too - and get a Bass cube for added control over and fine tuning the warmth of that sub instead of spending anything on a tube preamp. Further, I've run some pretty high end tube preamp stuff on my home system and to be honest they didn't sound warm, just really accurate - and that's because alot of the warmth comes from having a tubed output stage, not preamp - and that Soundstream is just a preamp with tubes mixed in with alot of solid state anyway.

 

[big daddy russ]

Thanks for the help. I was actually teetering between the AudioControl and the SoundStream before you brought it up.

 

[Tone]

I have a SVX2 if you are looking for one - $40.