[Musky_Don]

On Tuesday I finally received my re-built Van Den Hul 'Frog' (see other post).  The cart is amazing - like new.  The $$$ I spent on the re-build/tune were less than I expected, and the improved sound has me in a major vinyl upgrade mode.  Anyway, the next likely target in my system is the phono stage.  I have been looking at several - the EE Minimax has had rave reviews here at AC, the Simaudio Moon LP5.3 is a candidate (I have a friend who can get me a great deal here), the Ear 834P, and the Dynavector P-75.

I was skimming some ads on Audiogon, and I ran across one from Bill at Morningstar (EE Minimax).  I may have seen the ad before - not sure as my mind sometimes is equally full of scotch and music - but I noticed the shipping zip - Bill is right around the corner from me!

I called him at right around 5 o'clock - asked if he had a demo unit (the upgrade itch is strooooonnnnggg!).  Long story short, Bill offered everything a potential customer might want - over and above on every aspect of time to pick up a unit, etc.  I called him back around 6:30 - met him in about 15 minutes at his shop.

Ok - so I now have the Minimax Phono stage in my system.  I have what I guess are Bill's preferred tubes in the unit, I have a few that I have rolled in my Jolida CD player (waste of time - I listen to cds only in the car or if I am in the mood for Shuggie Otis - the album (name eludes me) doesn't have a couple of key songs).

My first impressions are 'this is f^ucking nice'!  It's past 11:00pm in my neck of the woods.  I just flipped through the shelf of 'not my favorite albums' and tossed seven on the list to listen to.  This is really a good pre - and will probably be a great addition to my system.

In closing, Bill seems like a gentleman of high character.  I want to publicly thank him for his customer service.  It's a no brainer for me to say that this is a very good reasonably priced phono pre-amp.  As a good friend of mine says in complimenting all things in life "Bill is wicked hard core".  Thanks.        

[bacobits1]

Congrats on the Mini Max Phono Pre. I have one and I think it is very good. In fact my whole system is Mini Max and very good. With all NOS tubes the system just sings. I'm using all NOS Tungsram 12AX7 in all three positions and a NOS Tungsol 6X4 rectifier. Martin DeWolf from Bound for Sound uses it as his reference. All Power cords are by Signal cable, Magic Power Cables are very nice. Again from Marty at BFS. The Mini Max CD is great and does compete very well with my vinyl setup. In fact I sold my Sony SACD XA777ES because it compared very favorably at one third the cost.
I have a Denon DL103 to mount but have not tried it. I'll be moving soon so it will have to wait. I had a low output AT OC9II on it and it also worked very well.

Build quality and looks is excellent on all the pieces. In fact I got the Phono Pre first and after seeing the build quality I purchased the rest of the system. Larry, "icrim" the moderator at the Analog section has one too.

Bill is great to deal with and will accommodate anything you need. FAST!

Enjoy!

Den

[Musky_Don]

Hi Den,

Thanks for the advice on the tubes - my guess is that I'll have alot of fun playing with the Minimax Phono in the months/years ahead.  Right now I have quite a few changes going on in the system - hard to tell what is responsible for what.  My re-built Frog is still I'm sure breaking in - seems to just keep tossing more and more detail to the front and edges of the soundstage.  The Minimax is definitely a winner.  No doubt about it.  In addition, I have another change in the system that Bill suggested.  I won't name it yet - frankly at first I thought he was pulling my leg - I was convinced that I wouldn't hear an improvement in sound.  Long story short, once the change was made, I haven't wanted to even bother with a before/after comparison.  The whole system just sounds great.  My Dynaudio Confidence C2s have never sounded sweeter.

I have the Minimax till Tuesday - no desire to change anything till then.  At that point I will slowly 'undo' the changes and critically weigh each then I'll also drop the Minimax into a second sytem just for fun.  Will I own a Minimax in the future?  Well - my Wife sat down and listened yesterday - she was impressed.  So much so that she didn't even ask 'how much?' - and that's usually the first question - or maybe she is just resigned that I'm going to do it anyway.     I keep telling myself that I really should review a couple of other Phono pres before buying the Minimax, but really, my heart isn't in it.  My humble opinion thus far is that the Minimax is a really, really good value - maybe a bit more than I wanted to spend - but it is really, really good.  The chances that I won't own one Tuesday night are getting slimmer and slimmer...  When I 'undo' everything I'm pretty sure my opinion will still be the same - the Minimax is one hell of a phono pre for the $$$.

Don

[bacobits1]

HA! Bill is cool. What did he tell you to do? He knows his tubes too.
PM me. Now I'm dying to find out.

Den

Ah ha, I know what it is. Talked with Bill yesterday.

[Musky_Don]

OK - so I bought the Minimax Phono Stage.  It was IMO a no-brainer.  I had planned on 2 steps/upgrades in the phono pre section of my system.  IMHO, the Minimax is good enough to justify 1.  the price; 2.  skipping a step.  So I have one burning in with an old TT and an even older but still within it's life MC cart.  I had the unit on in the background last night as I watched the Cavs/Pistons game.  There were a few moments where the Minimax sounded wonderful then all of the sudden I was sure the needle was all clogged with dust.  Lol – I  checked it several times - all clean.  This made me nervous enough that I half convinced myself that there was a problem with the unit.  I have never heard a piece of audio gear have such dramatic momentary changes during break-in.   Very strange.  Anyway, it sounds great after about 10 hrs - I'm know it will get better.

When I picked up the phono stage, Bill asked if I would like to demo the Minimax Pre-amp.  We talked a bit about the features - I told him I was not a likely customer as there were a few features I need for Wife approval and integration into a movie friendly environment (Wife again - she would kill me if I said I needed ANY set of speakers next to the Dyn C2s for 'movies' - God Bless Her).  Anyway, this is some modded version of the stock pre - I am not sure what the mods are. 

Long story short - I let the Pre run last night - I took a quick listen this morning  - sounded very nice with the stock tubes.  I listened again early this evening for about 20 minutes w/some tubes Bill supplied - really nice.  It is running in my second system - the components IMO are no slouch - Odyssey Mono Blocks, Dynaudio Contour 1.1s (nice bookshelf), and Cambridge Audio CDP (loaded with calk to dampen the sucker).  At first listen - the Minimax Line Stage (modded - I have never heard the stock Pre) is worth a listen.  I have yet  to drop it in my main sytstem with the Whoooaaaa new Minimax Phono pre.  I'll post a few thoughts on the line stage once it warms up a bit.

This Minimax gear sure is fun!  When I left Bill's office yesterday I was struggling a bit for the words to describe what I thought of the Phono Pre.  Emotional?  Yep.  Liquid?  Blah - sounds like a wet dream.  When I drove away I re-called one of my favorite movies 'Once Around'.   Great flick, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Eiello (sp?), Holly Hunter.  Anyway, Holly Hunter has a great performance and several times throughout the movie she refers to Richard Dreyfuss's character as "remarkable".  Perfect Boston accent – you KNOW what she means – “remarkable”.  The Minimax  is not perfect but it is better than ‘emotional’ – The Minimax Phono Stage is “remarkable”.  An emotional, liquid wet dream all in one.  Remarkable.     

[bacobits1]

All the pieces react favorably to swapping out the tubes.
The little Pre especially. It is a simple no nonsense piece.
You can really change the signature of the system by the combination you choose.
I have all kinds of NOS tubes to go in the Pre. At the time I bought Bill had the chat board up and there was a lot of good tube info on there. Since it got hacked it was not restored. Too bad, it had all the info needed for all of the EE equipment.

Enjoy!

D

[lcrim]

As was mentioned I have the EE MM phono section as well.  Presently there are 3 NOS-12AX7A-(Sylvania) in it and they are a very clean, well balanced and glare-free combination.  Tube rolling w/ the EE MM preamp has been a lot more comprehensive and there is a TungSol 6X4 there now but the black-glass rectifier from Bill spent a lot of time there, I can't remember the packager.  There is a GE 6414 in the cathode follower and Mazda stenciled NOS 12AU7 which I purchased as a rebranded Amperex.  I have so many tubes for that pre its become embarassing.
The quality of the gear is out of scale to the price and Bill's support is truly special.  Welcome to the group.

[woodsyi]

I have another phonostage that I used to roll tubes like crazy when I first got it.  I can't even recall all the tubes I have tried, but most of the usual suspects were tried.  The clear winner for me was the smooth plate Telefunken 12AX7s.  They are still in there.  One thing I learned the hard way is that you have to get the best tubes for phonostage or you will be hearing the tubes rather than music.  That means premium bucks for NOS tubes, but I think they are worth the bother.  My one trial with SS stage (Xono) wasn't as satisfying as cheaper tubed ones.  Good luck and enjoy the process.

[Musky_Don]

Thanks to all on the notes and suggestions for tubes.

Larry - my guess is that "black glass rectifier"  is the Haltron CV493.  Bill gave me one to try I believe in the pre-amp.  I popped it into the Phone pre last night.  Very nice.  I'm not sure it is as accurate as the TungSol top to bottom, but I found the tube to be very seductive.  Kind of like it slowed everything down just enough to add a sultry undertone.  Not sure if that makes sense but that's the impression I get.  Really nice on female vocals.  It sounds great in my system. 

I was digging around a bit and found a few tubes I tried in my Jolida CDP.  Nothing outstanding except for when I put one of the GE JG-5751 triple mica black plates in the center slot (thanks again Dave for parting with them at a more than reasonable price).  Much, much better than the stock 12AX7.  How would they sound across the board?  Dave - if you are reading this - didn't you have 2 pairs of these?  I am sure I will try quite a few tubes before I'm done.  Almost all of my listening is on vinyl so it seems a worthwhile effort and it sure is fun.  Thanks to all who have posted here as to their suggestions - a quick search provided a wealth of knowledge.

Don

[bacobits1]

Yes, the black glass rectifier is a Haltron. I have one too. I like the NOS Tungsol Long Black plate better. I have these in all 3 pieces that take the 6x4. In the EE Pre I have the Tungsol 6x4, RCA 12BH7, and a Brimar 13D5. This beats all the other combos I have tried including the GE 6414, Ratheon 5814, RCA clear tops etc. It does go on and on. Some of these tubes are getting expensive and harder to find. Of course this is all personal taste. This is an extremely quiet unit.


Den

[Musky_Don]

Ok - so I had to give Bill back his modified preamplifier (I bought the phono pre).  Just a few quick thoughts on the modded pre.

1st, I told Bill when I picked up my phono stage that I wasn't going to buy the modded pre - it doesn't have a couple of features required by my Wife.  He still urged me to give it a listen.  Who am I to turn down a chance to audition audio equipment?  My thoughts after listening to it?  Bill probably sells a lot of equipment through 'auditions'.  I may buy one down the road.

I dropped the pre into my 2nd system for about a week.  After a few days of break-in I had a serious listening session.  Reaaly nice 'spacing' to the music, instruments are where they are supposed to be, side to side and front to back - nice depth and layering of the soundstage.  I had never heard my modded Cambridge Audio CDP sound so good.  My Wife came into the room and commented that the music sounded very alive and natural. 

After a few more days, it was time to return the unit to Bill, so I moved it into my main sytem for a listen.  More of the same thoughts.  It is a really nice pre-amp.  The biggest surprise was how solid this modded pre is top to bottom.  My Dynaudio Confidence C2s are full range, very natural, extremely revealing speakers.  The Minimax Modded Pre-amp is not soft anywhere - I had expected it to drop off a bit on the lower end - it really seemed to handle the extremes well.  Sweet.  Musical.  Fun to listen to.

Is the modded ~ $1300 pre worth the extra $$ compared to the standard one?  I don't know - I have never heard the standard model.  (Maybe Bill can chime in here with a list of what the mods actually are.)  I do believe it will hold it's own in comparison to other pre-amps in it's price range - no doubt about it.  I also know that I have become a big fan of Bill and Eastern Electric products.