[timind]

Light-dependent resistor, a type of volume control (aka passive preamp)

Thanks for the info.
Are they superior to standard potentiometers or ladder attenuators? I guess someone must thinks so.

[Rclark]

.

[danvu]

I've preordered twice and they always have a discount. $600 is the rumor.

So I can actually call their sale department and preorder it for $600? That seems like a very good price.
I'm wondering how it is against the Emo's own RSP-2 and if it's in the same league the W4S STP-SE? Has anyone ever do a test comparison between the RSP-2 and W4S STP-SE?

[JoshK]

When I see that many SMD chips in a preamp that obviously aren't just for the house cleaning, I can't help but twitch. 

[Rclark]

Ok, so they are officially in full production and slated for July, so preorder should be going up very soon. This was taken from the Podcast. The current rumored price is $899, $799 preorder. May take advantage of that preorder price and do this before new amps.

Emotiva is saying this will compete at a very high level...

 Here are some high res shots taken of the final unit. Notice all the hardware features.. I've never seen adjustable impedance before..





 Looks really nice...

[sts9fan]

Game changer...

[srb]

Looks really nice...

From the rear.

Game changer...

Because of the blue light show, I was thinking more "Deal breaker".

Steve

[Rclark]

Ha ha.
 
And the blue lights are your fault, I wasn't the one who kept the tradition of whiz bang meters and bright control lights going. I can think of a few established brands with brightly lit faces. That said, they are dimmable and some can be disabled. On this ERC-2 I have, the only light is the power button, the tray light is disabled. In a dark room, the tray light is pretty handy.

 I like the way their gear looks from the front and I'm sure the remote for it will be pretty sweet too. I've found that removing the front trim pieces transforms the look of these things.

 Don't expect this to be the best pre ever, but given their other gear it should perform nicely.

[JohnR]

You have one source?

[Rclark]

Well, also PS3..

I'm thinking it could be good to operate this wide open into the Warpspeed or maybe experiment by leaving it wide open, but placing the Warpspeed before this preamp. Either way I'd listen to it alone for a week. Maybe it will be even better all on it's own, but I was thinking of the WS as maybe just a way to control overall system gain.

 Having just done my first little three speaker shootout, there really is a benefit to just leaving the thing alone and getting used to the sound.

[JohnR]

Currently, you connect the PS3 to one of the inputs on your DAC?

I don't really understand why you want this. Do you have the warpspeed? Why not just put it between the DAC and the Virtue? How will adding another box improve things?

[Rclark]

Well, for all the controls and inputs. i can go balanced all the way to the amps (ncores preferred method). Nice, multiple subwoofer inputs and subwoofer crossover. Might even improve the sound with adjustable impedance.

That and between it and the WS I then have a basic unit without gain, and another with.

If would be very easy to sell for a very nominal loss if proved unnecessary. Has tone controls, the works.

Don't have a dac right now, sold it. I just swap between cdp and ps3 on the WS.

[doug s.]

i know this is the s/s circle, but since i see my name mentioned in this thread, let me state for the record, that for that much cash, i'd be keeping my eyes peeled for a melos sha-gold-r...

ymmv,

doug s.

[jtwrace]

i can go balanced all the way to the amps (ncores preferred method

Read the data sheet again.  SE is fine.

[eclein]

I'd think from looking at the internals it will be far more noisy than an LDR? Does that sound right to you guys or am I wrong?

Its probably just me but I think there stuff is not very attractive looking. It screams in bright BLUE light I was cheap thats why I'm here. Its a big obnoxious case hiding lots of chips. I thought pre's especially were best done with minimalist components and lots of point to point wiring? I'm learning so I may be wrong so please correct me if you know.

[Rclark]

 I'm willing to bet it will have a more than respectable s/n ratio. The entry level USP-1 has 116db. Tonepub reviewed that one recently and had good things to say.

[Rclark]

 In fact, here's that review, including their lowest tier amp, the UPA-1 monoblock stereo amplifiers. Seemed to fare well enough. It didn't piss him off. Anyway the XSP-1 is supposed to have much higher performance.

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-emotiva-usp-1-preamplifier-and-upa-1-amplifiers/

[JohnR]

Might even improve the sound with adjustable impedance.

That's on the phono input.

[opnly bafld]

deleted

[Rclark]

Oh you're right.. Well I do have a turn table sitting around here. An old vintage one. Was meaning to take some pictures and see if it's worth keeping. I even have a few records sitting around.