Preamp Short List

Cens · « **Reply #20 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 02:39 pm »

One you might want to add to your list is the Herron VTSP. You can sometimes find them used for $2-2500. I had one for awhile and found it to be a solid performer all around. Only sold it because I fell in love with an all-Naim system. Although my current preamp (Naim Nac 252) is better, the Herron is probably "80%" there for much less money. (Quotes around 80% because giving such a percentage is not all that meaningful except as a general guide.)

PLMONROE · « **Reply #21 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 02:39 pm »

A couple of local friends have suggested Marsh (however neither own one) Anyone familiar with their units?

Paul

KKM · « **Reply #22 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 03:29 pm »

I do have the Marsh p2000t hybrid pre. Its a excellent unit for the money. The parts used are top notch and internal wiring are Monster (good or bad, its a lot heavier gauge than most). The sound is very lush and revealing and uses 2 5687 tube. the sound can also be customize on what type of tube you use, I like the Tung Sol, which is very revealing. Audio Advisor just strated carrying it in their print catalog but not yet on their website. Positive Feedback reviewed it positively, and one of their reviewer, Tom Campbell uses it as his reference pre for his reviews. TAS also gave outstanding rating and recommendation for the SS version. More info, albeit anemic, at their website at:
http://www.marshsounddesign.com/productset.htm

Its simple purist design and low cost might have many people fooled about its performance, but given the right tubes and equipment, it can probably outshine most of the big boys. Good luck.

doug s. · « **Reply #23 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 04:30 pm »

several years ago, i decided i needed tubes. i replaced my linn kairn w/a rogue magnum 99. it had that tube bloom for sure - way too much of it. & the bass was mia. also, *extremely* microphonic. the bass issue (and excessive bloom?) was related, i believe, to an impedence mismatch - the rogue dint like driving two systems, the main one being fed from 5m interconnects. it was rated at 150 ohms output impedence; my experience, and my simple test crossing the outputs w/resistors, indicated its output impedence was likely closer to 2.5kohms. thank god i bought it used, so i could sell it w/o financial loss!

perhaps in a system w/short ic's between amp & pre, it wooda done better.

next up was a stock cary slp-98l this was a pre i could live with. and it's beautiful. beat the rogue in all aspects. much more neutral (which cary gear isn't noted for, afaik). it wooda been a keeper, but i had to try a melos preamp. the music director was so much better in all respects than anything i'd ever heard, i sold the cary, even tho i was in love w/the cary's aesthetics. so, i'd have to recommend a melos ma333r/music director. upgrades by m.a.r. will make it even better. or, check out dodd audio's top preamp - supposedly these will give the melos' a run; i am awaiting feedback from someone here on the ac that owns a stock ma333 & has yust purchased a new dodd preamp.

oh, one other thing; i was running electrocompaniet s/s amps at the time; i now run tubed amplification. i would seriously wanna re-audition the linn kairn preamp w/tubed amplification. w/exception of soundstage depth, it is a world-class pre, imo, & its ergonomics are top-notch.

ymmv,

doug s.

JoshK · « **Reply #24 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 04:56 pm »

IIRC, we (former NY audio gatherers) tested the Kairn up against the Little Wonder passive preamp feeding a Odyssey Stratos powering Wilson Cub IIs and we much prefered the LW. With the exception of really deep bass, which the Kairn won hands down, the LW had the Kairn crying for mercy IMHO. To use a cliche audio phrase it was clearly as though a veil had been removed from the speakers. ymmv.

doug s. · « **Reply #25 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 05:08 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

IIRC, we (former NY audio gatherers) tested the Kairn up against the Little Wonder passive preamp feeding a Odyssey Stratos powering Wilson Cub IIs and we much prefered the LW. With the exception of really deep bass, which the Kairn won hands down, the LW had the Kairn crying for mercy IMHO. To use a cliche audio phrase it was clearly as though a veil had been removed from the speakers. ymmv.

thanks for added data point, josh. this is interesting, as the ec amps have been compared to odyssey amps. and, the tweet in my meret's is similar to that in the wilson cub. not saying if this was a difference, but the last iteration of the kairn, w/its slimline switching power supply, was supposedly the best. in my system, the kairn's detail was outstanding. definitely a 2-d soundstage, tho. (and, tho its dynamics are excellent, imo, my melos pre is even *better* in this regards, as well as floating a fantastic 3-d stage.) perhaps the lw should also be under consideration!

doug s.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #26 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 05:31 pm »

i owned the rogue magnum 99 and didn't experience excessive bloom, but it was noisy and microphonic which led me to get rid of it...

JCC · « **Reply #27 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 05:40 pm »

I recently heard this pre-amp and was very impressed. It was far superior to a Minimax that we were also listening to. I am getting ready to audition the 10A in my own system and will publish information in a few weeks.

Try the SAS 10A, and I am certain that you will also be impressed.

Carlman · « **Reply #28 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 06:14 pm »

I've been eyeing the SAS as well... I recently promised my wife I wouldn't make any component changes for a while... So, I felt I needed to chime in and justify my choice

....

The Minimax is $900 direct through Bill vs. $1500 for the SAS. If the tube compliment isn't optimized to your ear, the Minimax isn't going to best much.... it's pretty much a tube holder with gain. I recently bought the upgraded version of the Mini and found it to be more transparent and extended with the same set of tubes. I think the upgrade may work better for someone using a solid state amp.... it did for me.

I compared the Minimax to an AR SP-9, Philly 7a, Decware ZTPre, and IRD Purist. I liked the Minimax better overall.... and that was before the upgrade. However, that was on somewhat less revealing speakers than what I have now. I'd like to do it over again but there's just no way. Comparing preamps is an effort second only to comparing speakers.

-C

Bill Baker · « **Reply #29 on:** 8 Oct 2004, 12:37 am »

Quote

Also take a look at modwright's pre...it sounded great in my system, and that was about 10 steps before the production model and with stock tubes

Max, I still have the ModWright pre and it does sound very good. When time allows, I will send it back to Dan and have it brought up to current status before selling it but still keeping it in the double enclosure. Or, I may keep it to use for comparisons or testing power amp modifications. It sound really nice driving the EXtreme Hurricanes and my modified personal Jolida 3000 mono blocs.

How's the Reference 202A sounding??

maxwalrath · « **Reply #30 on:** 8 Oct 2004, 03:16 am »

Hey Bill, I'm glad you're still liking the Modwright pre.

sorry to jump off topic...feel free to move this to your site if you want.

The Reference 202 is coming along VERY nicely. It's hard to characterize it's sound...it's really neutral, has great bass, doesn't sound very tube like, and does a great job with the pace and timing of music. I was just listening for a few hours (for the first time in a while) and didn't think about "audio qualities" at all - a very good sign.

Here's a quick list of what was done...I think it's a good list.

-The reference mods from the response website
-Bybees at the AC in
-Source selector bypassed, only one input used
-Larger Value V-Cap capacitors than comes with the reference mod (I like tube amps but need bass...)
-WBT speaker binding posts
-IEC connector removed, Bolder Nitro power cord with Rhodium Male end hard-wired to the amp

There's more I'll get into once it has a few more hours on it and I finally get some good tubes...an Eighth Nerve sale came along and ate my tube money.

Rocket · « **Reply #31 on:** 8 Oct 2004, 11:14 am »

Hi,

I bought the modwright beta preamp in february and at this stage it has replaced my n.e.w. p3 preamp (oem manufacturer was cary audio design). the p3 sold for $1500us in the states originally.

I will be upgrading it to full production status very soon.

regards

rocket

djbnh · « **Reply #32 on:** 8 Oct 2004, 11:47 am »

Quote from: Carlman

The Minimax is $900 direct through Bill vs. $1500 for the SAS.

Please note the Morningstaraudio.com website (accessed via the Bill url above; direct url is http://www.morningstaraudio.com/shop/) states the Minimax price is:

Quote

Name:
Eastern Electric MiniMax Tube Preamplifier
Item#:
EE-MMPRE
Price/ea.
$799.00

JCC · « **Reply #33 on:** 8 Oct 2004, 12:55 pm »

When I recently listened both to the MiniMax and then the SAS 10A, there was little to compare. The 10A was clearly superior. Installing it in the Audio Jerry's system was like lifting a cloud.

PLMONROE · « **Reply #34 on:** 9 Oct 2004, 02:08 pm »

Really looks cool from its picture -- how does it sound?

ted_b · « **Reply #35 on:** 10 Dec 2004, 10:47 pm »

Paul,
Did you ever make a preamp decision? I'm in the same market as you, needing an audiophile-level preamp ($3k budget) to run my RM/X's. My needs include:
* remote control
* h/t bypass or unity gain
* phono stage (option)

Have you looked at the beautiful stuff from Supratek. Wow, his hand-built preamps are getting rave reviews (like 6moons). The dollar vs Australia makes it a bargain. He's got a 3 month or so production schedule backlog, though.

On the other end of the spectrum is the DEQX PDC 2.6 pre, that includes speaker and room correction, along with sophisticated active crossovers.

Both are reviewed on 6moons, and both come from Down Under.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/supratek/chardonnay.html
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/deqx/deqx.html

Ted_B

doug s. · « **Reply #36 on:** 10 Dec 2004, 10:55 pm »

Quote from: ted_b

Paul,
Did you ever make a preamp decision? I'm in the same market as you, needing an audiophile-level preamp ($3k budget) to run my RM/X's. My needs include:
* remote control
* h/t bypass or unity gain
* phono stage (option)

Have you looked at the beautiful stuff from Supratek. Wow, his hand-built preamps are getting rave reviews (like 6moons). The dollar vs Australia makes it a bargain. He's got a 3 month or so production schedule backlog, though.

On the other end of the spectrum is the DEQ ...

besides the melos gear that i am extremely enamoured of, i would look into dodd audio's latest top-line pre: & there's two kora eclipse's f/s on agon presently, that are also supposed to be wery nice. and, i know the sonic frontiers line 3 has a ht pass thru loop... and dan wright's (modwright) new pre sounds interesting...

doug s.

rosconey · « **Reply #37 on:** 10 Dec 2004, 10:58 pm »

why do so many people ignore the tempest pre from odyssey?
it is a great pre that klaus can add remote volume control, extra rca outs,ht bypass, and it has a great phone section built in.

you can pry mine away when -never

doug s. · « **Reply #38 on:** 10 Dec 2004, 11:01 pm »

Quote from: rosconey

why do so many people ignore the tempest pre from odyssey?
it is a great pre that klaus can add remote volume control, extra rca outs,ht bypass, and it has a great phone section built in.

you can pry mine away when -never

it may be due to the fact that once you have heard a quality tube preamp, it's hard to go back to s/s...

doug s.

rosconey · « **Reply #39 on:** 10 Dec 2004, 11:04 pm »

maybe a bad ss pre-the tempest is anything but

i'll leave the tubes for my cdp-the rest of my system sounds great without tubes