Gentlemen (and a Lady or two I hope),
Read through the posts and decided to offer the following as both an introduction and comments on my K/C preamp:
First a bit about me – I am retired and on Social Security - all the information I’m going to volunteer about my age. Being old means that I also had the opportunity to play with tubes in High School and build a number of Eicos and Heathkits AND listen to some of the earliest stereo records. Their clear, unprocessed, spatial attributes had a subtle but lasting influence on both my listening habits and enjoyment.
U47 introduced me to tapes maybe 20 years ago (thanks a LOT Rich) and I was able to acquire a lot of firmware back before it became unaffordable. Acquiring tapes has never been easy and one thing I found was a dearth of info on who/what was available, so I started doing research which resulted in my 2 track pre-record tapeography. I dabbled with many different tape machines and this exercise led me to realize and understand that their sonic failings lay primarily in the playback electronics and to a lesser extent with the heads. Rich also introduced me to the Stellavox brand and after a bit of trial-and-error tweaking of an sp-7, was able to enjoy many hours listening to my collection (at night over headphones to not disturb my young family)
Fast forward to two years ago when another friend, Mike B. discovered a Connecticut warehouse containing Cello remains. Mining this trove resulted in parts and info about their P100 phono preamp, one of the modules in their renowned Audio Suite. I built it up and discovered that it sounded great. Discalmer: I had certainly heard of Cello but never had or took the opportunity to listen to their products – WAY out of my price range). Along the way, I discovered that their highly-acclaimed P603 tape playback module was a derivation of the phono design so I tried to implement both in a single “box” (actually two boxes including power supply) and have been very happy with the results. Those few folks who have bought them also seem to think so.
As previously stated, I also have taken the opportunity to A/B various tape heads and outboard playback electronics – the former including stock Technics, Studer, various Nortronics, Bogen and Wolke; the latter including the Manley, Seduction and Tape Repro. This posting wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think the Cello was better. To my ears the superiority lies in two areas; bass dynamics and imaging.
Any preamp design relies on the amplifying devices and the topology in which they are used. Based on my listening experience, I hear transistors doing a better job of preserving waveshapes (rise/sustain/fall times) and this is especially evident on bass transients. They also seem to be “faster” and this attribute appears to enhance the “space” between instruments. I now can say that I’ve heard “air”, and am trying to develop a separate explanation of what this may involve - which will probably bore you tears. The other products I’ve auditioned (including a Hovland on phono) were all very good but the K/C had more of what I’ll call “slam”, and the others tended to collapse the sound stage. I take no credit for any of the design – that is due to the genius of Tom Coleangelo – I’m just tweaking around the edges and making it available.
Should mention that my system includes Quad 63’s (with a DIY, center-channel, 4 panel Quad woofer), Modified Lazarus hybrid, Class A amp and a homebrew version of the Palette Equalizer/Preamp using Cello parts.
Furture “experimental” projects include a line stage (with remote control, optical volume control and Cello output stage) in an identical “box” as the preamp and a Palette “type” equalizer (no preamplifier) with a 30 ft umbilical, in a “roll around” so you can put it by your listening chair. It will plug into the tape loop of your existing preamp.
I’m building up two more preamps; let me know if you’re interested in one (or more).
Charles
"To serve the music"