Who Still Uses A Preamp

sickophant · May 25, 2013

Audio Note (Kondo) M7 Silver Sound with phono.

Partnered here to the 8W stereo powerhouse little wonder, the Shinri.

andromedaaudio · May 25, 2013

I still have a pre amp at home(not sold yet) , the zanden probably sounds more transparent without , plus i like the KISS approach .(keep it simple stupid )

_DSC0337 by andromeda61, on Flickr

JonFo · May 25, 2013

I've been enjoying the amazing Denon AVP-A1HD preamp for the last five+ years. This 70lb beast is incredibly clean, super quiet and drives my all balanced downstream setup incredibly well. It's kept current with processing modes and as of now in 2013, there is nothing on the market I'd replace it with.

Internal architecture and build-quality is very good.

Here's a pic with the top cover off:

Kal Rubinson · May 25, 2013

amirm said:
What do you all do? Have complete parallel setups for analog/LP listening and theater? Or is the latter not in play?

I have only one real system in each home and both are fundamentally multichannel. Considering all the source options now for decoding and streaming, I just added an Audio Research MP-1 to the main system in order to provide an alternative to running everything through a processor, even one with an analog pass-through.

MarinJim · May 25, 2013

I love my Concert Fidelity linestage with SS amps.

edorr · May 25, 2013

Having been a long time advocate of the no-preamp route whenever possible, I have recently converted back to the preamp school of thought, courtesy of the arrival of the ARC Ref 5SE.

I still believe that the only way to beat a well implemented VC in the DAC is with a cost no object reference preamp, BUT I also believe the ARC Ref5SE has made this level of performance available at an almost realistic pricepoint, hence my conversion.

Steve Williams · May 25, 2013

Lamm LL1 Signature

Here's mine. It is a dual mono dual power supply preamp so occupies a lot of in room geography. It is the bottom 4 boxes. Best preamp I have ever owned

LenWhite · May 25, 2013

amirm said:
I am not sure how to answer the poll. I think the question is to ask is who uses a processor and (hence no pre-amp) and who uses (stereo) pre-amp/power-amp. My use of stereo pre-amp is outside of my main theater where I used it predominantly as volume control past DACs being fed from digital sources. PC volume controls have traditionally been poor performers so you are better off setting that level to max, and then controlling it outboard. In my theater, I use the processor. In all cases, I use separate amplification.

What do you all do? Have complete parallel setups for analog/LP listening and theater? Or is the latter not in play?

I use a Lindemann 830S preamp for stereo listening and it's "theater" mode to pass stereo from my Integra DTC 9.8 pre/pro for HT.

MarinJim · May 25, 2013

Steve Williams said:
Here's mine. It is a dual mono dual power supply preamp so occupies a lot of in room geography. It is the bottom 4 boxes. Best preamp I have ever owned

View attachment 9956

Beautiful rack!

rockitman · May 25, 2013

Steve Williams said:
Here's mine. It is a dual mono dual power supply preamp so occupies a lot of in room geography. It is the bottom 4 boxes. Best preamp I have ever owned

View attachment 9956

Steve,

Is it tough to volume match left and right with that configuration (independent volume controls) ?

MarinJim · May 25, 2013

rockitman said:
Steve,

Is it tough to volume match left and right with that configuration (independent volume controls) ?

I had dual volume controls on my Klimo Merlin, and it is pretty easy by ear.

Steve Williams · May 25, 2013

rockitman said:
Steve,

Is it tough to volume match left and right with that configuration (independent volume controls) ?

Not at all. The potentiometer that Vlad uses in each channel are identical. In other words each click on one is identical to the other channel. This is not done by ear. There are clicks in the potentiometer and each gain is identical. Best preamp I've ever used but I am biased

GuidoCorona · May 25, 2013

I definitely still use a linestage: my Rowland Criterion is being fed by an Esoteric X-01, and for the past year has been feeding a pair of Rowland M725 monos. In a couple of days, Criterion will start feeding my new pair of Rowland M925 quad-chassis monos. If you are interested in following my new audio adventure, join me at:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...Break-in-Notes&p=193754&viewfull=1#post193754

Saluti, Guido

gamve · May 26, 2013

Here is my effort. Home made jobbie (not by me). Circuit is kondo line stage knock off. One x 6x4 rectifier in power supply one x 5687 triode. Dead simple and sounds great, reliable as buggery and kind on tubes. Best components used shinkoh's good electrolytics and the last couple of years I've used Dueland output caps. This is one component I don't think I will ever need to upgrade. This is a two box jobbie as follows

Power supply

Pre

The only upgrade I have ever feel needed doing on this Preamp

sickophant · May 26, 2013

Envious personal effort. Love the use of the R-core! Makes for a solid foundation for any good power supply.

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Who Still Uses A Preamp

Who Uses A Separate Preamplifier vs Integrated Amp/Preamp

Do you use a separate preamplifier

Do you use an integrated amplifier with built in preamplifier

sickophant

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andromedaaudio

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JonFo

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Kal Rubinson

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MarinJim

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edorr

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