Croft 25RSR Linestage anyone?

[The Black Adder]

Please forgive the 'Doc' quote, but it's my current experience that the best preamp is actually none at all and adding loads of gubbins can make things slightly worse. Having said that, as you go up the Croft preamp range, the sonic effect of the preamp being there, do become more and more benign and if the thing does add anything at all, it's to draw your attention to the often wonderful and subtle things going on right in the back of the mix. In fairness though, the extra 'gubbins' in an R and RS preamp is in the power supply I think and not in the signal path.

Forgive me for being a bit of a curmudgeon, but valves changing the tone? I know they do, but that means that the warmest sounding ones in this circuit are actually very coloured and not strictly 'HiFi' in the purest sense of not adding or taking away anything from the signal going through them, as the extra supplies in Glenns better preamps make the bass far more tactile even with standard line valves. Obviously, subjective personal opinion comes in here and I sincerely apologise for saying it. I had enough sonic crap from ARC valve-based preamps, even the most revered ones of the 80's and 90's (SP8, SP10, SP11, LS15 and 25 and also the early Reference models) added a warm and rosy glow to the sources feeding them. This added colour and warmth sort-of balanced the pre sliding-bias Krell power amps, which became harsh for a year or three I remember, but neutral in the proper sense? Absolutely not!

We forgive you...

In bold, yes... you are correct. Inside mine for example looks quite complicated but it's mainly the external PSU parts/wiring that make it look like it. The signal paths are just as short and simple as they ever were.

Never heard ARC preamps. The thing is, Glenn really knows his onions when it comes down to preamps. I thought the basic was bloody good. I also compared an S&B TVC passive with the 25 and 25R - No better or worse really, it simply came down to a different presentation.