0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 9400 times.
I have been running either a Bent Audio or Warpspeed for past 2 years. Thinking my system is sounding lean (Mccormack dna 125 is my amp) - has anyone gone from passive to a tube preamp with good success or am I just looking for change for change?
I have been running either a Bent Audio or Warpspeed for past 2 years. Thinking my system is sounding lean (Mccormack dna 125 is my amp) has anyone gone from passive to a tube preamp with good success or am I just looking for change for change?
There are 2 issues with the Line 3, one is the fact it uses 12 tubes (!), the second is that they are no longer in business and while Partsconnexion will fix them if they break, it isn't cheap and their rep for reliability isn't great
I like tube preamps, but any good amplifier isn't going to be cheap. With a passive, having a source with low output impedance is important, and even if this is the case, asking it to push through 2 sets of ICs and volume controls can lead to a lean, thin sound. I used to have an Anthem Pre1, which is a lower end model Sonic Frontiers made. There are 2 issues with the Line 3, one is the fact it uses 12 tubes (!), the second is that they are no longer in business and while Partsconnexion will fix them if they break, it isn't cheap and their rep for reliability isn't great... I had a few issues with my Pre1 and sold it to Pcx for parts when the PT melted down. The Line 3 is a VERY complicated unit, both in power supply and circuit design. It is nice the Line 3 has a reasonable 12 dB gain, my Pre1 had 28 dB, which was really excessive.
I was using a Coincident Statement Phono Pre as both a phono stage and a preamp for digital, using it's optional line stage input. Now using a Placette Passive Line Stage and prefer it very much. For phono using a Heed Quasar. The Placette is cleaner sounding and totally transparent, but the main reason for the change was that the tube preamp was reducing the gain I was getting from the amp. This was a surprise to me but it was absolutely happening because a friend was here that night listening and we both heard the increase in gain without the preamp and it was startling. I would not have discovered this if not for the switch a few earlier from a pair of 300B mono blocks to a Decware Torii Mk3 with a stepped attenuator. After using the Torii with the preamp for a couple of months, decided to try it without since it has the attenuator. I really appreciated the increased gain but some recordings had a very slight trace of harshness at realistic volume levels, so found a pre-owned Placette which solved that and gave me remote volume and source selection. Very happy now! The increased gain even allows me to use a 45 tube stereo amp with 2 watts for small group acoustic jazz and female vocals with my 92 dB speakers.
I guess the range really goes from passive to buffer to active, right? I've tried a variety of pre-amps/controllers from Decware to Bottlehead to Warpspeed. I've got a new passive controller (stepped attenuater) on order from Bottlehead. I also built a tube buffer and liked that very much. I'm thinking about building my old buffer with the Bottlehead passive in front and getting a really simple pre...Best,John
My brother bought the Line Drive passive preamp from the Mod Squad back in the early eighties, he was never that happy with it. After a short time, he sold it to my friend who I believe still owns it. I always thought it was thin sounding in both my brothers and my friends system.