[Puma Cat]

Some comments from a Stereophile review of the Premier 17:

http://www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/370

Note later in the review , it is being compared quite favorably to an ARC Reference 2:

"The VAC, on the other hand, is wonderfully alive and engaging, with vibrant details and dynamics and rich tonal colors. The Premier, however, matched it goosebump for goosebump, but was subtler and a bit more refined. The C-J's images were more detailed and better-defined, its tonal palette more varied. Shifting my original paradigm, it's the VAC that has the bigger, warmer, more vivid, and slightly less sophisticated sound.

The ARC Reference Two is a truly superb preamp that combines the neutrality of the Sonic Frontiers with the subtlety and vibrance of the VAC. It's more neutral than the C-J and outperforms it at the frequency extremes, but it didn't match the C-J's engaging detail, to-die-for midrange, or rich, luscious tonal structures.

and...

"Overall, it was a tough call—I could be happy with any of these designs. On a tight budget, I'd opt for the Adcom and never look back. If I had a bit more fiscal flexibility, I'd opt for the VAC, ARC, or C-J. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and a music-lover won't go wrong with any of them—but if I had to pick today, on purely sonic terms, with my current system and in my existing room...I'd opt for the Premier 17LS."