Hi WBF afficionados. Just thought I'd start a thread on this one, partially to pass on my impressions, and to get experiences of others - I'm in the midst of a fortnight-long audition.
I currently run my venerable 2006 vintage Hovland HP200 tube pre (recently boosted by new Jan Phillips tubes) into Audion Black Shadow SETs supercharged w/new Elrog 845s, powering Zu Audio Definitions Mk 4 full range/min. x-over spkrs.
I'm getting a full blooded sound, w/just a hint of hardness and hash from what I believe is the Hovland pre, counterbalanced by just the right amount of tube lushness. But I am aware of a shortfall when compared to recent alt. pre's that I've tried.
The SS Koda K10 being much more expansive and textural in the bass, fantastic timing and detail retrieval, but just a little too ripe for my liking (you'd swear it was a tube amp).
The Audion Quattro 4 box tube preamp (2nd hand model), more balanced all-round, taking hardness out of the Hovland equation, not as detailed/transparent as the Koda, but the best o/all balance of tube sweetness. Just lovely, but unreliability is making me turn away.
Third and last on the list, the Townshend Audio Allegri autoformer passive pre. I'll go into the tech in a later post, but initial impressions are of detail retrieval on a par w/the Koda, transparency well in excess of anything I've ever heard, however not as sweet as the Audion Quattro. Bass was a little underwhelming on day 1, but over time this is coming to the fore, and now the pre is a formidable performer, w/only the lack of sweetness compared to the Audion Quattro tube pre/trace of SS character the downsides.
I know passives really divide opinion, but my experience has been mainly spectacular w/caveats mentioned, and I'd love to hear other's experiences/views, good/bad.
I currently run my venerable 2006 vintage Hovland HP200 tube pre (recently boosted by new Jan Phillips tubes) into Audion Black Shadow SETs supercharged w/new Elrog 845s, powering Zu Audio Definitions Mk 4 full range/min. x-over spkrs.
I'm getting a full blooded sound, w/just a hint of hardness and hash from what I believe is the Hovland pre, counterbalanced by just the right amount of tube lushness. But I am aware of a shortfall when compared to recent alt. pre's that I've tried.
The SS Koda K10 being much more expansive and textural in the bass, fantastic timing and detail retrieval, but just a little too ripe for my liking (you'd swear it was a tube amp).
The Audion Quattro 4 box tube preamp (2nd hand model), more balanced all-round, taking hardness out of the Hovland equation, not as detailed/transparent as the Koda, but the best o/all balance of tube sweetness. Just lovely, but unreliability is making me turn away.
Third and last on the list, the Townshend Audio Allegri autoformer passive pre. I'll go into the tech in a later post, but initial impressions are of detail retrieval on a par w/the Koda, transparency well in excess of anything I've ever heard, however not as sweet as the Audion Quattro. Bass was a little underwhelming on day 1, but over time this is coming to the fore, and now the pre is a formidable performer, w/only the lack of sweetness compared to the Audion Quattro tube pre/trace of SS character the downsides.
I know passives really divide opinion, but my experience has been mainly spectacular w/caveats mentioned, and I'd love to hear other's experiences/views, good/bad.
