Purist Preamp US In Home Audition Tour

Curt · « **Reply #60 on:** 10 Oct 2003, 09:01 pm »

Good news. Enjoy your audition and we look forward to hear what you think of the Purist after you logged on a few days.

Any questions just drop me an e-mail.

Curt · « **Reply #61 on:** 20 Oct 2003, 07:51 pm »

We received a cancellation: Next audtion : jlupine > IL

jlupine you have e-mail, please reply and we will send you the Purist

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #62 on:** 21 Oct 2003, 08:29 am »

Quote from: Curt

We received a cancellation"..... Looks like someone missed a nice opportunity to hear an excellent pre-amp !

Curt · « **Reply #63 on:** 24 Oct 2003, 05:48 pm »

Heads-up jlupine > IL. Music is on the way...

Oct 24, 2003 -- 7:53 am -- On FedEx vehicle for delivery

Just in time for the weekend!

jqp · « **Reply #64 on:** 24 Oct 2003, 06:30 pm »

Curt, where does this put us on the tour list?

Curt · « **Reply #65 on:** 24 Oct 2003, 07:54 pm »

Quote from: jqp

Curt, where does this put us on the tour list?

Page 4 of this thread has the current audition schedule.

jqp · « **Reply #66 on:** 24 Oct 2003, 08:40 pm »

thanks! Maybe by then you will have a 3-way XO/5.1 processing/preamp - you can call it the JQP

How are things in IRD-Thailand land?

Ernest · « **Reply #67 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 03:28 am »

I had the Purist for about 2 weeks (due to the cancellation of the guy after me). Wow, how do I explain this preamp. FREAKING AWESOME! BUY IT! Yeah, that's about right.

Seriously, I love this preamp. I'm experiencing intense enthusiasm right now that is making it hard for me to think clearly. Hang on, I need to organize my thoughts...

OK, the first thing I noticed was a very black background to the music. I could hear into the musical space of the performers much more than before. Instruments had an almost eeiry life-like sound with a strong 3-D positional aspect. There was tons of air around the instruments. Vocals were strong and lifelike with a very strong sense of presence. I've never had such a strong feeling that I was in the venue (or studio) where the performers were.

Highs were better - cymbols especially sounded wonderful. The sound was sooo natural - not dry, not thin, not really sweet, and certainly not euphonic. Bass was tighter and a little bit lower.

I just can't believe that I can still hear things I've never heard before on CD's that I've listened to hundreds of times, but that happened with the Purist.

Guys, my system already sounded incredible. I didn't think I wouuld ever get a big improvement in the sound again. But the Purist let me hear that my system still had more to give me.

I should add that it is so very well built. It is an absolute freaking steal for what Curts asks for it. I've heard the Creek OBH-12, the Adcom GFP-750, Audible Illusions Modulus 3A, Quest-built, highly moddified Bottlehead Foreplay, Acoustic Reality Front-eAR, Aragon 28K MKII, Decware ZSLA-1, and some others that I can't remember the name of, and this the Purist is MUCH better than all of them. The only preamp I've heard that may be better is a Symphonic Line preamp that Klaus played for me at the Midwest Audiofest, but that costs much more money.

I just don't enjoy the sound of my system now that the Purist is gone. I can't order one right now but I sure do wish that I could!

One final thing - I spoke on the phone with Curt and exchanged many emails with him. He is a fanatastic person. We are lucky to have him in this industry.

Thank you Curt for the demo! And thanks to Harmon for telling me about the Purist.

Jay S · « **Reply #68 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 06:05 am »

Ernest,

Wow, I'm glad that you liked the Purist! That's strong praise given that the Front eAR has such good specs and is also an SS preamp.

I guess the Purist is a good match with the eAR digital amp. I'm planning on getting a sub soon to supplement the bottom end of my norh 9.0 (which I will continue to run full range) but I've always wondered about getting an IRD Audiophile preamp (built in 2 way active XO) or maybe a PT-2 active XO as a future upgrade to my (near) future upgrade...

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #69 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 06:56 am »

Curt, When will the Sabai preamp be released ?

scottpretti · « **Reply #70 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 12:43 pm »

Ernest, I could not have said it any better!!! Sounded so good, i bought one.

beat · « **Reply #71 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 02:59 pm »

curt,
I hope you have some left by the time I get it and love it and cant do without it!

tkp · « **Reply #72 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 03:58 pm »

The problem with the LLC-P is its low price so that most people don't take it seriously. IMHO, it is one of the two best preamps (the Bent TX102 is the other one) of all preamps that I have owned, built, and listenned to date.

I am very picky when it comes to preamps because I happen to understand the technical behind them. Curt employed a number of sound engineering designs in the LLC-P which responsible for its great sound. The fact that I bought the LLC-P even thought I only used three of the six preamps that I have had in my possesion should tell you how highly I think of the LLC-P.

Beside the technical and great sound, IRD's customer service has been great. When I sent my unit back to IRD for upgrading to the black face plate and to the latest circuitry, I only had to pay for shipping one way to Buffalo Electronic in NC (not Thailand) and IRD covered the shipping cost back to me. On top of that the upgrade was free. This was what I call un-matched customer service.

jqp · « **Reply #73 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 04:18 pm »

Quote from: tkp

The problem with the LLC-P is its low price so that most people don't take it seriously...

Hey, hey, hey!! Enough of that kind of talk. We "unserious" audiophiles need preamps too

Curt · « **Reply #74 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 04:42 pm »

Quote from: beat

curt,
I hope you have some left by the time I get it and love it and cant do without it!

They are going pretty fast... and everyone seems quite happy. We only had one return because a guy decided a tube preamp was better for his system.

We have 16 Purist preamps in stock in Charlotte NC.

The Purist is a fine high-end preamp and everyone that hears it likes it. It mates well in any system, tube or SS. The Purist was a year in R&D and I believe it was well worth the effort.

IRD has scheduled another Purist production run for Nov 6th, then it's 30 days by sea to the States arriving shortly before Christmas.

jqp · « **Reply #75 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 05:03 pm »

Do those 16 Purists have the updated design? Charlotte sure is close to my location...

Curt · « **Reply #76 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 05:24 pm »

Quote from: tkp

The problem with the LLC-P is its low price so that most people don't take it seriously.

Thanks tkp, you hit the nail right on the head. Sadly, this is true. We're trying hard to sell fine components direct at low mark-up but many people do think higher priced components must be better. This can be quite far from the truth.

When you set some of these higher priced components next to an IRD component, and compare quality, it can be a real eye opener. And of course listening, the most important test of all, will confirm the true value of IRD audio components.

We have been selling small quantities all over the world (about 15 countries now) and I do believe the word is getting out about IRD audio components. Building a brand name without big advertising bucks takes time.

I'd like to thank all our customers and everyone here at AC for helping IRD get its brand name established.

BTW: We will never raise our prices, it's not in our business plan

Curt · « **Reply #77 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 05:28 pm »

Quote from: jqp

Do those 16 Purists have the updated design? Charlotte sure is close to my location...

Purist rev 1.01 is standard production now. There are no old Purists left, we even updated all [that wanted them updated] the original owners units.

Yes, every Purist in Charlotte is a brand new Purist rev 1.01

Harmon · « **Reply #78 on:** 26 Oct 2003, 12:50 pm »

Excellent review Ernest. The Purist is indeed one of the great preamps out there.

Guan · « **Reply #79 on:** 27 Oct 2003, 03:38 am »

Quote

Curt wrote: We only had one return because a guy decided a tube preamp was better for his system.

Ah! That must be me

As mentioned in another thread, I am impressed with the Purist. Using it was almost like having no pre-amp at all. Quiet, transparent and well balanced. However, in my system with my SS amp, I found that I needed a pre-amp that provides some 'jump' factor with a certain 'character' and tubes seem to work best. I'm sure Curt will agree with me when I say it's a matter of system synergy.

However, I almost wish I still had the Purist as I have recently changed all my IC and speaker cables to silver Audioquest. These cables have addressed many of my earlier concerns and again highlights how important component matching is - cables included.

System: Tyler Linbrook Signature system, CR Developments tube pre-amp, Jeff Rowland Model 8T, pencil tube DAC, Sony XA777ES, Audioquest Amazon/Kilimanjaro [/list:u]