[Les Lammers]

How many of you are still using and liking their preamps? I have searched here and read the reviews.

TIA,

Les

[enjoythemusic]

Les,

   Many views and no replies so am trying to help as i can . Our Senior Editor of Enjoy the Music.com, Dick Olsher, reviewed the UltraVerve Line Pre-Amplifier http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0404/dehavilland.htm  and also the Mercury 2 Line Preamplifier http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0905/dehavillandmercury2.htm . Please feel free to e-mail him at olsher@enjoythemusic.com as he is very familiar with their units. Always glad to help.

[Les Lammers]

Thanks Steve,

I read all the reviews and ordered one yesterday.

Les

[lonewolfny42]

How many of you are still using and liking their preamps? I have searched here and read the reviews.

TIA,

Les

Check with AC member byteme...he own's one.

[bunky]

How many of you are still using and liking their preamps? I have searched here and read the reviews.

TIA,

Les

Check with AC member byteme...he own's one.

Yeah Les, another guy here posted last week that he just pulled the trigger on a DeHavilland Mercury II

[Radiator]

Yeah Les, another guy here posted last week that he just pulled the trigger on a DeHavilland Mercury II

That guy may be me.  I bought a used Mercury 2, though it was only a few months old.  It arrived minus one tube, so the seller sent me some alternate tubes he had.  The unit now has Tung-Sol for the type 85 tubes.  I should note that I am not a "learned" audiophile.  What I mean is that I have built my system using the advice of other folks here and elsewhere.  Anything I can say about this unit is merely per my ears.  And, I have no room treatments either.

At first I was horrified when I powered up the pre, as it sounded very grainy.  But it really needed to heat up, and the tubes had not been used in the system.  Soon, though, it began to tighten up, and improve in clarity.  Prior to this pre I had been using a Yamaha integrated as my pre, into Odyssey Extreme Monos.  The Yamaha colored the sound alot, higher highs, lower lows.  After losing that, I initially felt the sound was compressed with the mercury.  But, I began to realize how much less fatiguing it was, and after awhile getting used to it, I began to like it very much.  I guess I needed to break in a bit as much as the pre and tubes did for me.  It has become obvious to me that my source needs to be changed out.  I am still upgrading.  My upgrade path was VMPS RM2 speakers, waited 4 years, bought the Odysseys, waited 10 months, now the mercury preamp.  I think I may have been better off upgrading my source before the pre though.  I have a Yamaha 5 disk changer, and a Panasonic DVD player.  It became obvious that the Yamaha multi disc player sounds worse than the Panny, so it is doubtful I will use that much anymore.  THe Panasonic sounds OK I guess, but I feel I am very limited by it.  I am considering the modded Denon 2900s available on Agon, wondering about the differences between the Exemplar and the Modwright(gonna start a thread for this).  Anyway, my experience so far is not terribly valuable as I feel my source is now limiting me. 

Regardless, I feel that the preamp is very detailed, imaging is FAR superior to what I had with the Yamaha in the loop.  I feel I lost some of the low end that I had with the Yamaha, but again, I am not sure that it should have been there in the first place.  Not to say the Mercury doesn't have low end, just not as boomy as the Yamaha was.

Well, I hope this helps.

[DARTH AUDIO]

I've owned the UltraVerve for almost 2 years. IMO it's a great preamp. Big sound, detailed and lush. I use the Mullard ECC32/CV181 in the 6SN7 slot. That is a great tube, but it better be for $200.00. Also, Kara & George are great to work with.

[Les Lammers]

Thanks guys.

Radiator, your next move should be your source. That will make a BIG difference.

Les

[Radiator]

Thanks guys.

Radiator, your next move should be your source. That will make a BIG difference.

Les

Agreed.  I've been discussing it in the "New Digital Source Needed" thread.  Looks like the common recommendation for me is the squeezebox.....

 

[Les Lammers]

Yeah Les, another guy here posted last week that he just pulled the trigger on a DeHavilland Mercury II

That guy may be me.  I bought a used Mercury 2, though it was only a few months old.  It arrived minus one tube, so the seller sent me some alternate tubes he had.  The unit now has Tung-Sol for the type 85 tubes.  I should note that I am not a "learned" audiophile.  What I mean is that I have built my system using the advice of other folks here and elsewhere.  Anything I can say about this unit is merely per my ears.  And, I have no room treatments either.

At first I was horrified when I powered up the pre, as it sounded very grainy.  But it really needed to heat up, and the tubes had not been used in the system.  Soon, though, it began to tighten up, and improve in clarity.  Prior to this pre I had been using a Yamaha integrated as my pre, into Odyssey Extreme Monos.  The Yamaha colored the sound alot, higher highs, lower lows.  After losing that, I initially felt the sound was compressed with the mercury.  But, I began to realize how much less fatiguing it was, and after awhile getting used to it, I began to like it very much.  I guess I needed to break in a bit as much as the pre and tubes did for me.  It has become obvious to me that my source needs to be changed out.  I am still upgrading.  My upgrade path was VMPS RM2 speakers, waited 4 years, bought the Odysseys, waited 10 months, now the mercury preamp.  I think I may have been better off upgrading my source before the pre though.  I have a Yamaha 5 disk changer, and a Panasonic DVD player.  It became obvious that the Yamaha multi disc player sounds worse than the Panny, so it is doubtful I will use that much anymore.  THe Panasonic sounds OK I guess, but I feel I am very limited by it.  I am considering the modded Denon 2900s available on Agon, wondering about the differences between the Exemplar and the Modwright(gonna start a thread for this).  Anyway, my experience so far is not terribly valuable as I feel my source is now limiting me. 

Regardless, I feel that the preamp is very detailed, imaging is FAR superior to what I had with the Yamaha in the loop.  I feel I lost some of the low end that I had with the Yamaha, but again, I am not sure that it should have been there in the first place.  Not to say the Mercury doesn't have low end, just not as boomy as the Yamaha was.

Well, I hope this helps.

Seems like you got a good deal. Back to the future, your source may be what you need to be looking at. Frankly, I would be leery of big$ modded cdp's.

Les

[Radiator]

Seems like you got a good deal. Back to the future, your source may be what you need to be looking at. Frankly, I would be leery of big$ modded cdp's.

Les

Yeah, I'm not made of cash.   

Felt like Modwright gets some good press here, and figured that their modded CDP might be a good way to go.  The one on Audiogon is available for $1500 OBO, but still, a good bit of money.

I got a great deal on the Mercury, felt like I shoulda paid more.  I am thinking about moving toward a squeezebox and a new PC.  I have a thread here about a new digital source, and the consensus seems to be that I should consider that as an option.  I have also thought about the Olive stuff.....

[avta]

Hello Les:

I've got a Norh aca 2b tubed pre I've had for about 6 mos. It's feeding ripped audio files in Apple lossless format to a Pass Aleph3 amp and Magnepan 1.6's. I'm very satisfied with the system considering the modest price of the pre. ($400 ).

Guy