Now here is a rare beast I'm reluctantly selling. Actually I'm reluctant every time I sell a piece of gear... The Stello P200 is a remarkable preamp, irrespective of its price point. It is a dual monaural design, with left and right circuits dual mono from the toroidal transformers to the inputs and outputs. It is designed with two separate volume control chips which provide outstanding channel separation. No wires are used in the circuit path, and the construction quality is outstanding.
If you've read any reviews of Stello gear, you know that sound quality is exceptional. The P200 is no different, it is very detailed, presents a wide soundstage, as well as a musical presentation. It works best via the balanced outputs, with high quality amplification, although the RCA outputs sound fantastic as well. The output stage is full balanced Class A push pull mode. Bypass input is available for use in home theater application with a surround preamp/processor.
When I bought it a couple of years ago I communicated with April Music about this unit, as it was hard to find any information about it. I was told that the manufacturing costs were too high, so they had discontinued the model. When you see the build quality of this model, you'll understand what they meant about manufacturing costs - it would have been difficult for them to sell this at the original list price and make much money, no doubt. Their current models are really good, but they certainly don't look like the 200 series, inside or out.
The remote control is a well constructed piece in itself, quite heavy actually at more than 10 ounces, and can operate the preamp as well as any Phillips-based CD player.
The P200 is a joy to operate, with a standby mode operated by the front power button. When in this mode (main power switch is on the back) the unit memorizes the last volume set for each input!
The P200 is in great condition, with a couple of small marks on the front panel as well as the top, but nothing substantial, couldn't really capture it in the photos. The front panel is a thick brushed aluminum piece, that is somewhere between white and silver, very unique looking.
Inputs: 2 Balanced XLR, 4 unbalanced RCA. Outputs: 1 Balanced XLR, 2 unbalanced RCA.
Price is $880, quite a bargain at this level.
Note: Buyer to pay actual shipping cost based on zipcode, plus 3% if PayPal is used.
I also accept money orders or cashiers checks and ship after they clear.
I have a feedback rating of 100% over 300 transactions on the auction site, and on Audiogon 100% feedback of 36, same username.
