I've been out of the DIY scene for a long while, so please forgive my lack of awareness of commercial or popular DIY circuits.
I've long enjoyed a passive pre w/ Dave's autoformers, built a long time ago by Larry Moore. A recent shootout with a friend's gear reminded just how wonderfully it works when a good cathode follower feeds it. I'd like to build a tube preamp with a low-mu gain stage and cathode follower in front of the autoformer, and maybe the same after. I want it to work beautifully with a very wide range of sources. I like octals, both fashionable and not. I'm thinking something like 6SN7 and 6BX7, but open to any ideas.
So... anyone got something they want to root for? Just looking for a good sensible design, but religious fervor appreciated too.