SL1 Legend - pictures

XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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Looks like an old school Audio Research pre amp.

Still no remote?
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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It still has that damn hard-wired umbilical cord from the power supply to the preamp which makes things *interesting* when you take it out of the box and try to position the preamp on your stand. I also wonder why the volume control plate sticks out what appears to be 1/16" of an inch from the face plate. Why not flush? Last but not least, looking at the last picture of the power supply, it appears that umbilical cord is either under stress or the hole wasn't drilled correctly because it looks like the cord is under stress and is being pulled to the left.
 

XV-1

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2010
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It still has that damn hard-wired umbilical cord from the power supply to the preamp which makes things *interesting* when you take it out of the box and try to position the preamp on your stand. I also wonder why the volume control plate sticks out what appears to be 1/16" of an inch from the face plate. Why not flush? Last but not least, looking at the last picture of the power supply, it appears that umbilical cord is either under stress or the hole wasn't drilled correctly because it looks like the cord is under stress and is being pulled to the left.

Good question. Looks like they have just stuck the volume plate onto the entire face plate. I guess they did not want to pay for any cnc work :)
 

DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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Fernando, I think the Legend is one "killer" preamp. All the 'Naysayer's' aside, IMO it's one of the best preamps available. ( perhaps the very best).
 

Bruce B

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Apr 25, 2010
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The best pre I've owned was a CAT SL-1.
I'd have one now if it was an all balanced design.
 

cjfrbw

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Apr 20, 2010
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I had one of the older versions for a while and thought it was one of the best combos of clarity and speed with just the right touch of "tube-iness" without going lush.
 
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DaveyF

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Jul 31, 2010
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The best pre I've owned was a CAT SL-1.
I'd have one now if it was an all balanced design.

Bruce, why the desire for all balanced? I know that a lot of gear these days needs to have balanced connections ( like the newer ARC stuff), BUT I have heard very little difference in much gear that uses balanced connections vs. unbalanced. Plus,I know that Ken isn't really in favor of balanced for sonic reasons.
BTW, If you never heard the CAT with rolled in tubes, you are in for a MAJOR treat.:D
 

Bruce B

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Apr 25, 2010
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Bruce, why the desire for all balanced? I know that a lot of gear these days needs to have balanced connections ( like the newer ARC stuff), BUT I have heard very little difference in much gear that uses balanced connections vs. unbalanced. Plus,I know that Ken isn't really in favor of balanced for sonic reasons.
BTW, If you never heard the CAT with rolled in tubes, you are in for a MAJOR treat.:D

I have to be able to use it in a studio setting where everything is balanced (whether I need it or not). Compatibility to mix and change out gear with little hassle is paramount. I loved that it had a phono section too!
I did roll tubes with the CAT I had and it was sublime! :)
 

Peter Breuninger

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Jul 20, 2010
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The SMC VRE is the new CAT.
 

mep

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Apr 20, 2010
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Bruce, why the desire for all balanced? I know that a lot of gear these days needs to have balanced connections ( like the newer ARC stuff), BUT I have heard very little difference in much gear that uses balanced connections vs. unbalanced. Plus,I know that Ken isn't really in favor of balanced for sonic reasons.
BTW, If you never heard the CAT with rolled in tubes, you are in for a MAJOR treat.:D

Or a major disaster. Have you ever asked Ken Stevens how he feels about audiophiles "rolling in tubes" into his preamp? I doubt anyone knows Ken's circuit as well as he does and what he is looking for from each tube in each socket in his design. If you buy a set of tubes from Ken for your SL-1, you will pay more than if you bought them from Joe Blow's House of Horrors tube shop, but they will be quiet and will work correctly. There are plenty of junky NOS tubes available for sale. There are plenty of counterfeit tubes available also. There are lots of tubes for sale that were bought and discarded by both electronic companies and tube stores because they didn't meet their standards. There are also plenty of jerks that don't understand what NOS means. I lost count of the ads for NOS tubes that *only* had 50 hours or 100 hours on them. That makes them used. They may be slightly used, but they are used nonetheless. The bottom line is there are lots of unscrupulous sellers out there as well as maybe well-intentioned ignorant people. The SL-1 is not a simple tube preamp with a couple of tubes that you are "rolling in" (and I dislike that term because basically you are a tube swapper; unplugging and plugging tubes into the preamp in hopes of creating sonic magic), there are lots of tubes serving different purposes. The phono section tubes need to be graded for noise because they need to be ultra-low noise for use with a MC cartridge. You need to have tubes that have the sections closely matched meaning you are dealing with dual triodes and each triode section inside the tube needs to be matched to its fraternal twin. Lots of people don't have that capability. They rely on the plug and pray method.
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Or a major disaster. Have you ever asked Ken Stevens how he feels about audiophiles "rolling in tubes" into his preamp? I doubt anyone knows Ken's circuit as well as he does and what he is looking for from each tube in each socket in his design.

When I did tube rolling in my CAT, I got the tubes from Kevin Deal. He seemed knowledgeable of the unit and knew what would work and not work in there.
It appeared to me to sound slightly better because of a lower noise floor. That's what I remember. Nothing else changed as far as I know.
I have fond memories of my CAT and I'm sorry I ever got rid of it. I replaced it with a ML32 because at the time I had ML 333 amp.
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
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Portugal
The SMC VRE is the new CAT.

I once listened to this great recording in a system using a CAT preamplifier - never before I such feeling of the separate presence and communication between the piano and the singer in a digital recording.

What is the system you are using with the SMC VRE?
 

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mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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When I did tube rolling in my CAT, I got the tubes from Kevin Deal. He seemed knowledgeable of the unit and knew what would work and not work in there.
It appeared to me to sound slightly better because of a lower noise floor. That's what I remember. Nothing else changed as far as I know.
I have fond memories of my CAT and I'm sorry I ever got rid of it. I replaced it with a ML32 because at the time I had ML 333 amp.

Buying tubes from Kevin is a pretty safe bet. Kevin understands tube gear and what works. They also do a good job of grading their tubes for noise and matching them.
 

DaveyF

Well-Known Member
Jul 31, 2010
6,129
181
458
La Jolla, Calif USA
When I did tube rolling in my CAT, I got the tubes from Kevin Deal. He seemed knowledgeable of the unit and knew what would work and not work in there.
It appeared to me to sound slightly better because of a lower noise floor. That's what I remember. Nothing else changed as far as I know.
I have fond memories of my CAT and I'm sorry I ever got rid of it. I replaced it with a ML32 because at the time I had ML 333 amp.

I too bought my tubes from Kevin Deal. The NOS GE long plates and NOS 4003 Mullards that Kevin highly recommended are superb. Not a small difference in SQ to the stock tubes.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I have quite a stash of 12AU7 variant tubes including a bunch of the Mullard Military CV4003 tubes which come wrapped in paper and with the cool pin protectors. They have big box plates. I do think they sound good, but I don't know that I would rate them at the top of the 12AU7 heap. An often overlooked and great sounding 12AU7 is the RCA clear top. I love that tube.
 

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