The new T10 RB (Real Basic) affordable vacuum tube preamplifier. $899 base price

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Wayner

Riiiight.  I provided the location of the quote since it went to the IGWB it can't be quoted in the normal fashion so a link will have to work.

BTW, what goes to the IGWB should stay in the IGWB. I think you should remove the link.

charmerci

You are wrong. I thought the same until three few days ago when I listened a new vinyl rip, with a very expensive balanced cables in a very expensive phono too. The sound was much better than the earlier version with very expensive unbalanced too.


Years ago, Frank said that for it to work both the pre-amp and the amp (etc.) needed to be designed as balanced components for it to be effective. He had actually made up some balanced-designed components and decided not to continue through with them for reasons I forget.

thunderbrick

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Nothing wrong with Grumpy, Mary.  Many AC members are fluent in grumpy...

avahifi

Several years ago we build a prototype four channel DAC, preamp, and power amp, all with then current OmegaStar solid state circuits.  These all were true balanced line components with separate left pus, left minus, right plus, and right minus signal path and circuits. This combination provided four separate signal paths from the source to the speakers.  Doing this essentially cancelled common mode distortion in each component and background hum picked up by the cables too.

This combination did sound better overall than the two channel separates we were building at that time.  They would have been expensive to build and sell.  However the sonic improvements suggested another design path to us. Since these four channel path components showed us there remained some distortion components in the stereo versions we had missed, the clever and economical thing to do was to simply see if we could just design that distortion out.

We did design significantly cleaner two channel solid state units, our Insight series.  When we installed the new Insight audio circuits in our old four channel balanced line prototypes, guess what, there remained no musical differences between the upgraded prototype four channel units and our new two channel Insight units.  Inasmuch as the two channel units were low noise too, the Issue was solved without the need for the nearly double extra cost of the true balanced line units.

So we never produced the four channel balanced line components as it appeared they had nothing useful to offer other than extra cost, and that is not the way we do things here.

The new Transcendence Ten RB preamp is my best effort so far to produce a superb, quiet, and engaging stereo audio preamplfiier at an affordable price.  It would not be a true Real Basic unit if we had to build in or provide for balanced line connections we are suspect of.

So whether you believe in balanced line or not, please just consider this great new preamp as it is and leave discussions of other matters elsewhere.

Thank you

Frank Van Alstine

Brad

Thanks for the glimpse behind the scenes, Frank.  :thumb:

Keep on keepin' it real

aln

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I think it's wonderful!  Reminds me of the rb preamp I have in the small chassis.  Good work!

Listens2tubes

Saw your post on Facebook and had to come read more. Glad my T8+ is still thought to be up to snuff. Still need to send it in for the adjustable phono pre. :duh:
« Last Edit: 4 Mar 2016, 12:59 am by Listens2tubes »

sonic

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Too bad there's no balance control.

avahifi

Its an RB.!!

If you want a balance control we can build you the SL version for $1199.

Frank

Wayner

Too bad there's no balance control.

There are plenty of new model preamps without balance controls. This preamp has an approach to not only be basic (4 inputs and a volume control), it is also very pure. No special function switches in the signal path. A pure tube pre for pure tube pre guys....

And it almost wasn't going to even have a headphone jack.......

'ner

firedog

If we do only need a basic preamp, how does this one rate purely on SQ compared to your more full featured preamps?
Or do the preamps with additional features also have a bit better sound?

Wayner

How would having more features make a preamp sound better? It's the preamplifier's circuit that makes it sound.

firedog

How would having more features make a preamp sound better? It's the preamplifier's circuit that makes it sound.

Please, I didn't say that having more features make it sound better. I asked if the more expensive preamps (which have more features) also have better sound. Not the same thing as how you seem to have read it.

avahifi

Well, our Fet Valve CF vacuum tube has both more features and better sound, base price $1899.

Measured distortion for the Fet Valve CF is about 0.003 percent THD and IM.

Measured distortion for the T10 RB's simpler audio circuit is about 0.03 percent THD and IM.

Can one hear that difference in distortion?  Are any other tube preamps that good?  Hard to say.

Frank Van Alstine

rcag_ils

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Is the T-10 same as the T-8 without the balance control? If not, what are the differences in circuitry?

hibuckhobby

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Curious about the output of the headphone jack?  Will it handle low (as in planar)
As well as high impedance phones?
Regards,
Hibuck....

avahifi

The T10 R RB has a phenomenal headphone circuit.

It drives headphones directly from the vacuum tube line circuit through a state of the art current buffer (LME49600 current buffer with 0.00003 percent THD and a 2000 V/uS slew rate.).  The headphone circuit has separate regulated power supplies as well.

It drives my 30 ohm Grado SR225 phones just fine as clean and clear and loud as you could ever want with the pure tube circuit supplying all the gain.

Consider the T10 RB as a superior choice for headphone performance instead of one of those dinky little IC based headphone amps out there.

Frank Van Alstine

avahifi

rcag_ils asks if the new Audio by Van Alstine T10 RB vacuum tube preamplifier is the same circuit at the T8 without the balance control.

The tube audio circuits are similar, but the T10 has higher quality polypropylene capacitors in the signal path, better and adjustable regulator circuits, a much more sophisticated three part ground plane with isolated sections for the audio, low voltage, and high voltage sections connected for lowest ground hum paths.

In addition it has a day and night better headphone driver section and our new optional Vision fully adjustable phono section for both MM and low level MC cartridges built in.  Note the Vision phono preamp is on The Absolute Sounds Editor's Choice list for 2015.

At $899 you won't fine its equal.

Frank

charmerci

To the left of the power light - there's a button or something there. What is it?

PSB Guy

To the left of the power light - there's a button or something there. What is it?
It's a knockout for the remote control sensor, if you get that option.

Cornelis