Tír Na HiFi

Many thanks to all who have replied - very stimulating and will think about the pre-amp options.

A good quality volume control on the JKDAC32 may be another solution. I wonder if JK would build me one :-)

on the passive side of things i have had the danish audio connect atenuator which has not enough settings and the rothwell atenuator which has a large step and a fine control one i gave it to noel cloney and i think he still uses it in his systeym at home
another option would be to get your pre looked at if it is valve you could get it modifyed to some of the russian military valves which are very good
i can maybe help to get it into expert hands for a look at

giant haystacks wrote:on the passive side of things i have had the danish audio connect atenuator which has not enough settings and the rothwell atenuator which has a large step and a fine control one i gave it to noel cloney and i think he still uses it in his systeym at home
another option would be to get your pre looked at if it is valve you could get it modifyed to some of the russian military valves which are very good
i can maybe help to get it into expert hands for a look at

Thanks for the valuable input - I have been investigating a unit based on the DACT attenuator - is it the 24 step model you are referring to?

I have another set of input valves here and forgot all about them - Must swap them out and see if there is a noticeable difference but I presume it is the quality of the preamp electronics at the end of the day which is limiting the sound quality and eventually I may have to move on to improve things.

I can empathise with a lot of the discussions regarding going to passive Pre after my experience with my CJ 17LS Pre this past week.
It had let me down before when John Kenny was around for a listen as one of the 4 valves was failing but it was a gradual thing and a couple of weeks later I finally woke up to the declining quality of sound, changed valves and magic returned in a big way!
Looking at the valves closely I could then see that one had been a little more toasted inside to the point of not looking to nice.

Fast forward a year and Claus was around for a listen last weekend and mentioned how the soundstage was a bit narrow for his liking and after he got out of the hot seat I had a listen and concurred that everything was pretty much stuck on center. I had only recently put in a new set of Electro Harmonix valves which sounded really sweet so I did not think it could be valves. With great trepidation I went direct connection with Jplay volume control and bang there was a great soundstage again.
Figured I would get the Pre sent out for inspection and stick back in my Primare I30 and use it as a Pre in the meantime but just before I did I decided to try a set of russian valves I picked up recently and then everything working great again on the CJ Pre !!!

Next I decided to put all the Electro Harmonix valves back in again and start swapping them one by one to find the culprit but upon firing it up again with all the Electro Harmonix valves back in everything was working great.....joy and frustration all at once.
I am assuming now it was a bad connection on a pin but I will have to wait and see over the coming days.

Hope the valve swap works for you markof :-) :-(

Sligolad wrote:I can empathise with a lot of the discussions regarding going to passive Pre after my experience with my CJ 17LS Pre this past week.
It had let me down before when John Kenny was around for a listen as one of the 4 valves was failing but it was a gradual thing and a couple of weeks later I finally woke up to the declining quality of sound, changed valves and magic returned in a big way!
Looking at the valves closely I could then see that one had been a little more toasted inside to the point of not looking to nice.

Fast forward a year and Claus was around for a listen last weekend and mentioned how the soundstage was a bit narrow for his liking and after he got out of the hot seat I had a listen and concurred that everything was pretty much stuck on center. I had only recently put in a new set of Electro Harmonix valves which sounded really sweet so I did not think it could be valves. With great trepidation I went direct connection with Jplay volume control and bang there was a great soundstage again.
Figured I would get the Pre sent out for inspection and stick back in my Primare I30 and use it as a Pre in the meantime but just before I did I decided to try a set of russian valves I picked up recently and then everything working great again on the CJ Pre !!!

Next I decided to put all the Electro Harmonix valves back in again and start swapping them one by one to find the culprit but upon firing it up again with all the Electro Harmonix valves back in everything was working great.....joy and frustration all at once.
I am assuming now it was a bad connection on a pin but I will have to wait and see over the coming days.

Hope the valve swap works for you markof :-) :-(

After reading your post, I swapped out the input valves for my backup set and clarity and soundstage improved considerably, still not as good as the direct feed to the power amp but much closer than before.
I wish my auditory memory for sound quality would last longer than a few microseconds it would make things a lot simpler.

Sligolad wrote:I can empathise with a lot of the discussions regarding going to passive Pre after my experience with my CJ 17LS Pre this past week.
It had let me down before when John Kenny was around for a listen as one of the 4 valves was failing but it was a gradual thing and a couple of weeks later I finally woke up to the declining quality of sound, changed valves and magic returned in a big way!
Looking at the valves closely I could then see that one had been a little more toasted inside to the point of not looking to nice.

Fast forward a year and Claus was around for a listen last weekend and mentioned how the soundstage was a bit narrow for his liking and after he got out of the hot seat I had a listen and concurred that everything was pretty much stuck on center. I had only recently put in a new set of Electro Harmonix valves which sounded really sweet so I did not think it could be valves. With great trepidation I went direct connection with Jplay volume control and bang there was a great soundstage again.
Figured I would get the Pre sent out for inspection and stick back in my Primare I30 and use it as a Pre in the meantime but just before I did I decided to try a set of russian valves I picked up recently and then everything working great again on the CJ Pre !!!

Next I decided to put all the Electro Harmonix valves back in again and start swapping them one by one to find the culprit but upon firing it up again with all the Electro Harmonix valves back in everything was working great.....joy and frustration all at once.
I am assuming now it was a bad connection on a pin but I will have to wait and see over the coming days.

Hope the valve swap works for you markof :-) :-(

Good to hear it was not something major in your pre that was wrong, Pearse. I must say as mentioned before: valves can be a bit of a curse as well as a blessing in our hobby. For me as a guitarist they have been a great source of both! ;) I remember ordering TAD valves for my amp at great expense only to find one hugely microphonic. The replacement was as bad and only third time was I lucky...