[Tyson]

I love it when a new piece of equipment does EXACTLY what I hope for.  I sold my audio-gd C3 fully balance preamp and replaced it with the Mapletree. 

The issue I was trying to address was that with the RM40's fully active, with SS amp on the woofers, tube amp on the mids, and another tube amp on the high, along w/a mgalusha modded DCX 2496, it was simply too transparent for my liking.  I could hear things like the tape being turned on and off for vocal tracks several times during songs and while watching DVD's and HD television. 

Soooo, I sold the C3, which is one of the most transparent and dynamic pieces of equipment I've hear, and bought the 2A SE instead.

I wanted something less ruthlessly revealing, and more musical and tube-y.  The Mapletree delivers in SPADES!  Not only do Ella and Louis Armstong sound better than ever, but so do 50 Cent, Jay-Z, and Nas.  Not to mention Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler.

And detail is still pretty darn good, not as ruthless, but definitely more musical.  Of course, I've come to grips with the fact that the RM40's are bright, so maybe the 2A balances that with some added warmth.  Any way, I'm quite happy with the quality of music at this point.

[Bigfish]

Tyson,

Glad you are enjoying your Mapletree 2A.  Topround turned me on to this musical little jewel late last year and I just love mine!

Ken

[Rob S.]

Ok,  I'll jump in here too,

Topround and Bigfish both turned me on to the 2A Se, and I concur....  It delivers music,  it is truly a gem.

Rob S.

[JimJ]

No pics? 

I almost bought a 4A SE a couple weeks ago, but decided against it for that same reason...I wanted something that wasn't too "tubey". I figure the monos do that well enough on their own

[lonewolfny42]

The Mapletree preamp has been a frequent visitor to many Rave's ....(thanks to topround/Mike)...
And it always performed well in whatever system it was used in.

It's a "best buy" no matter what the system....and at a great price...

[Tyson]

No pics yet, but it's a very cool metalic blue, with silver front and black wood sides.

I also almost bought the 4A SE, but I have 3 sources already (Duet music server, HD TV, and PS3 player), plus I don't have a turntable, so the 2A SE it is

[JoshK]

Congrats on the 2A.  I had a 2A back when I owned the RM40s.  I think the lower mids on the RM40s were a little lean, which made the upper mids a bit bright.  A fleshed out tube pre is a nice balance, and the mapletree was one of the best examples of this I used at the time.  It was much much better than the Cary SLP2000 I had prior which sounded like a SS pre.

[zybar]

No pics yet, but it's a very cool metalic blue, with silver front and black wood sides.

I also almost bought the 4A SE, but I have 3 sources already (Duet music server, HD TV, and PS3 player), plus I don't have a turntable, so the 2A SE it is

Tyson,

Did you get any options or upgrades?

Is it possible to get this with a remote?

George

[Tyson]

Mine came with the black gate upgrade, but that's it.  Although it also came with some very nice Sylvania 12sn7's and a Ken Rad 6x5. 

It does not come with a remote, but I'm going to pull out the ALPs volume pot and replace it with a Bent PRM-Solo remote module, which uses a goldpoint switched attenuator, and also has a mute function

[topround]

I had two Mapletrees, they are great for sure, the Auricaps are very nice but I can only imagine
what a pair of teflon caps in there would do.
Teflon is in my future, if I still had the Mapletree I would go for it.
Mike

Tyson, I found the Tungsol rectifier to work great with that pre, I also used Tongsol roundplates which were(are) wonderful, but expensive. I used Sylvania 6sn7GTA's which were great, but the Tungsols were alot better(for me) but alot more money.

Enjoy

[rajacat]

I bypassed the output caps with Russian T1 .01uf Teflons with good results. Another option would be to replace the Auricaps 1uf with Mundorf Silver Oils. , perhaps 2uf and bypass with the Russian teflons.

-Roy

[topround]

The only problem with the small chassis is fitting in the larger mundorfs, the silver and oils get LARGE quick, but they are great caps.

Mike

[Tyson]

Those caps sound way to transparent, I'm going for more easy-going and musical.  Sarah Vaughan is sounding divine right now