Chicago audio club preamp session

mrmusic · « **on:** 24 Jun 2006, 10:33 pm »

Greetings gentle readers, and you audio people too. We wanted to give anyone interested a heads up about a preamp listening session by the Chicago Audio club on Sunday, 6-25. We were invited to send a preamp for group appraisal and, throwing caution to the wind, did so. The same, battle hardened, Revelation III that has been to a few magazines was available for the trip. It has been with John Casler for a bit now, and he was good enough to forward it on to Chicago. I was told there would be other pre's there too, so we thought we would make the session more interesting by sending a prototype of a new budget version. It is a resurrection of the original SP100 buffered passive produced in 1990, with a few updates. Maybe if we ask nicely, a couple of the attendees will post a brief review of who was there and how things shook out. Obvioulsy, after the post we can take turns ripping into them and pointing out their lack of hearing, taste, judgement and sanity. We may even have to take a look at their questionable ancestry! Moderator: If this post is in the wrong place, please excuse the mistake and move it.

Chuck Jones
SUPERPHON

MaxCast · « **Reply #1 on:** 25 Jun 2006, 12:50 am »

Sounds interesting as I will be looking for a new preamp in the future. Will you have a unit by SAS or TAD?
Where are you meeting?
Not sure if I can make it on such short notice, but thanks for the heads up.

JAMn Joe · « **Reply #2 on:** 25 Jun 2006, 01:22 am »

The Chicago Society meets tomorrow at 2:00 PM in Arlington Heights, IL at the Arlington Heights Historical Society building on Vail St., downtown Arlington Heights.

From the newsletter I received the highlight is suppose to be the new Dodd Audio battery powered preamp.

See ya'll tomorrow. Should be an interesting meeting. For those that are not members but would still like to attend, the cost of entry is $5.00.

marvda1 · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 12:34 am »

how did the meet go?

Marbles · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 03:54 pm »

Bump...to top

meby · « **Reply #5 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 05:49 pm »

I was at the meeting and it sounded pretty good, but there was something not kosher in the treble, maybe the ribbon tweeter on the GR Research spekers.

douglesc · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 09:15 pm »

I think it would be very good to state differences in the preamps, it would help any and all prospective buyers so they can make up their own mind which one is for them.

JAMn Joe · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 09:37 pm »

Quote from: douglesc on 26 Jun 2006, 09:15 pm

I think it would be very good to state differences in the preamps, it would help any and all prospective buyers so they can make up their own mind which one is for them.

In this case the only preamp at this session was the new Dodd Audio battery powered preamp and there was nothing else there to compare it too. I would also state that like the other attendee that this was not a stellar performance. I would not necessarily point the finger in the direction of the GR speakers though.

MarkR7 · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 Jun 2006, 10:41 pm »

I was there as well, helping Greg setup. Overall, I would say the sound was decent, not stellar, but there were a few variables that I was not entirely familiar with (namely the speakers, tubes on the Dodd amps, the Dodd battery preamp itself, and let's not forget the far from ideal room).

I will have to say that I much preferred the Dodd preamp with the orange label Amperex 7308, which is what we started with. We switched tubes on the preamp (to pinch waist 6922s) about half way through, during break, and to me, the sound went south after that, and yes it became bright. I didn't think it was overly bright before the tube swap using the 7308s.

Just my 2 cents!

mfsoa · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 12:39 pm »

So, is that it then? Doesn't sound like too many jaws met the floor, at least not for the right reason.

Perhaps the manufacturers might want to respond, lest we get left with the impressions that have been reported by the attendees.

I'd imagine the room wasn't too good, but is this not where the Society always meets? If the room was known to be crummy, why go to the effort to demo gear there? Not suprising that a poor room can wreck a good system, if that was the case.

We sure weren't led to expect that this equipment would yield comments like "decent, not stellar" , "not a stellar performance" , "pretty good...not kosher in the treble".

nicksgem10s · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 02:30 pm »

I thought this meeting was going to compare the new Dodd battery preamp with the Superphon Rev III? Any more comments from the folks who attended?

douglesc · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 02:44 pm »

I know if I had those Preamps in my system...............I could be telling you what I heard, good,bad or indifferent.

meby · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Jun 2006, 11:51 pm »

I think the superphon was damaged in shipping. The room is not bad where we meet in that it is very large. I have been going to meetings there for close to three years and know the room well. Lets just say don't believe the hype. The equipment was above average but no where near the hype on the internet or what was heard at the meeting the month before with the all Herron Audio gear or the Atma Sphere demos we have had in the past.
YMMV

mrmusic · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 05:12 am »

Hello again all you audioheads. To be as clear as confusion will allow, we cannot take credit for any of the "not stellar performance" that occurred at the Chicago meeting. We were under the impression there was to be a comparison of preamps and sent a Revelation III and a prototype of a new version of the original SP100 buffered passive. The original SP100 was the industry's first buffered passive preamp and will sell for a lower price than the Revelation III. Both preamps arrived in fine condition, but the boys at the meeting apparently ran out of time. Although the Rev III we sent is on it's way to it's new owner, we would be happy to send another to any club or group meeting who wishes to conduct a multi-brand comparison. Perhaps the Los Angelenos can put something together and let us know what shakes out. For now, I will just say anytime, anywhere.

Chuck
SUPERPHON

meby · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 02:30 pm »

Chuck,
I do not know why you preamp was not demoed we had plenty of time and the guy running the demo said he preferred the superphon to the Dodd in his own system in terms of attack and drive. I was under the impression that some equipment that was to be demoed was damaged in shipping but now know it was not the Superphon. Too bad we did not get a listen, I hope we get a chance to listen to it at a future meeting.

marvda1 · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Jun 2006, 03:37 pm »

could someone please give some details, equipment used, pictures, food, drinks, likes, dislikes, something.
this is like pulling teeth.

information starved

machine · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 01:26 pm »

Any more info about the DODD Battery Preamp listening session?

Was the PreAmp a prototype? What equipment was used? Who set it up.

Seems to me it was DODD driving GR Research speakers, which should have been a good combo since I believe they have been demo'd together before.

meby · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 03:47 pm »

From ,my understanding the preamp was not a prototype but the first production preamp. The equipment was Dodd battery preamp, 120 monoblocks, Reality cables, Dodd balanced power conditioner, Purist Audio Dominus power cords. The speakers were open baffle GR Research speakers. Do not take my comments earlier in the thread to mean the system sounded bad

, it was above average, but my jaw did not hit the floor. Oh and the system was set up by Greg Staley of reality cables.

brj · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 03:57 pm »

What other pre-amps were compared, and what were the differences?

meby · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Jun 2006, 04:15 pm »

No other pre-amps were compared. Just tube rolling on the Dodd.