preamps
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 1:20 am
As a condition to a recent sale I agreed to do a review of preamps in general, so here goes:
My first venture into audio was in the early 70's in a place a long way from here. Me and my best friend Elvis wandered into Hertzogs Store and checked out their "stereo's", if the mind isn't playing tricks it was a very impressive Marantz setup for about $800.00 which was probably a good price. Except if you were making $0.75/hr we were looking at light years to pay for it! (in those days credit was for the rich and famous, and we were neither rich nor famous) We still strung the sales guy along for a while and the full extent of his/the shop's record collection, deciding along the way a number of albums not to buy (ever). Years later, 3 to be exact I purchased a Rotel receiver and a Dual turntable along with a Massive pair of Avanti speakers and a Hitachi tape deck which reminded me of the wall of sound that Pink Floyd erected in Hamilton around the same time (well in my head forever always). A few years later I got a real job that paid $$ and upgraded my sound system as they were now called (sold the old one to my brother, hehehehehhe) to a Denon integrated amplifier + a Dual turntable + a Dual double tape deck + Angstrom speakers (which I still have), whoowee I was heading for audio bliss. I made the fatal mistake of reading Stereophile and realised that my simple little system was a mere blip on the edge of audio heaven. So I scrimped and saved and other stuff and bought me a power amp which I stuck into the system and in my ears it reined supreme for many many years,
I've been lurking in the background since this was the cloney forum thingie, reading all of your adventures into modern sound systems and thinking...that sounds interesting, I wonder how that really sounds etc. I've had an itch that needed scratching about valves, so recently I purchased a Valve preamp.
I've had a SS Preamp (Krell) that works exceptionally well, it is so neutral you wouldn't know it was in the path at all. But it has a small volume issue, in that its very hard to go softly softly. Its either rock your socks off or mute, I prefer the rock your socks...but there are others to consider(or so I'm told).
So I got this valve preamp and loved it (it sorted the volume issue and still allowed the sock your rocks off)
The valve preamp adds a warmth/fullness to the sound that to my mind enhances the overall soundstage and makes it all full on.
Which now makes me wonder about the hybrids, most possibly the best of both worlds or not.....the adventure continues, oh yeah,
My first venture into audio was in the early 70's in a place a long way from here. Me and my best friend Elvis wandered into Hertzogs Store and checked out their "stereo's", if the mind isn't playing tricks it was a very impressive Marantz setup for about $800.00 which was probably a good price. Except if you were making $0.75/hr we were looking at light years to pay for it! (in those days credit was for the rich and famous, and we were neither rich nor famous) We still strung the sales guy along for a while and the full extent of his/the shop's record collection, deciding along the way a number of albums not to buy (ever). Years later, 3 to be exact I purchased a Rotel receiver and a Dual turntable along with a Massive pair of Avanti speakers and a Hitachi tape deck which reminded me of the wall of sound that Pink Floyd erected in Hamilton around the same time (well in my head forever always). A few years later I got a real job that paid $$ and upgraded my sound system as they were now called (sold the old one to my brother, hehehehehhe) to a Denon integrated amplifier + a Dual turntable + a Dual double tape deck + Angstrom speakers (which I still have), whoowee I was heading for audio bliss. I made the fatal mistake of reading Stereophile and realised that my simple little system was a mere blip on the edge of audio heaven. So I scrimped and saved and other stuff and bought me a power amp which I stuck into the system and in my ears it reined supreme for many many years,
I've been lurking in the background since this was the cloney forum thingie, reading all of your adventures into modern sound systems and thinking...that sounds interesting, I wonder how that really sounds etc. I've had an itch that needed scratching about valves, so recently I purchased a Valve preamp.
I've had a SS Preamp (Krell) that works exceptionally well, it is so neutral you wouldn't know it was in the path at all. But it has a small volume issue, in that its very hard to go softly softly. Its either rock your socks off or mute, I prefer the rock your socks...but there are others to consider(or so I'm told).
So I got this valve preamp and loved it (it sorted the volume issue and still allowed the sock your rocks off)
The valve preamp adds a warmth/fullness to the sound that to my mind enhances the overall soundstage and makes it all full on.
Which now makes me wonder about the hybrids, most possibly the best of both worlds or not.....the adventure continues, oh yeah,
