Suggestions for the best preamp to match the Aleph3 !!! Opinions please !!!

[safetyman]

To all the learned gurus and fellow music lovers, please give me your views on the best preamp (tube or solid state) that would go beautifully with the Aleph 3? A match made in heaven, so to say.

[wuffwaff]

Hi,

I would go for a X-BOSOZ or if you want it a bit more complex one of the clones (P1.7 etc.).

William

[jh6you]

As far as I understand, Aleph 3 provides input impedance of 23Kohms and gain of 20dB. I do not think that Aleph 3 is picky. Just choose one good pre amp you like.

Regards
jH

[safetyman]

The reason for asking is b'coz I seem to be getting some very slight harshess especially in the hi-mid region. I think the possible causes to this could be from the room mode (my biggest suspect), or the high gain in my preamp or maybe even speaker placement and bad recordings.

My system consists of mainly low to mid budget components as below:

Marantz CD17KI - DIY Matisse Fantasy Mk III clone, Pass Lab Aleph 3 and Epos ES 11. The room size is approx. 9.75' X 12.0' with a sloping roof, it's lowest point behind the speakeris a t 10.0' and the highest point behind the sweet spot at about 15.0'. my I/C are the VDH 102 MKIII and speaker cables ae QED silver anniversary. A power trans for the amp solo and I DIYed 2 power line filters.

Apart from the high mid glare, I do have echoes too but better now. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[hifimaker]

Hi Safetyman,

I had a similar experience with digital glare. In my case there were 5 factors that contributed to the problem.

1) I was using a Rotel 980 op amp based pre-amp and switched it out for a BOSOZ. This removed most of the glare. Like you, I had an unbalanced amp and the BOSOZ worked well with it. You will not see the full benefit of an xBOSOZ with unbalanced amp.

2) Added an ADCOM GDA700 DAC after my Marantz CD63 signature. Balancing the source really helped take more full advantage of the BOSOZ. The sound was warmer and more detailed. Used ADCOMs are about $3-400USD. As Neslon says... The BOSOZ makes a great balanced to unbalanced converter.

3) Remaining glare was removed through the use of a larger floor rug properly placed to absorb the high frequency reflection from the floor.

4) Experimented with difference inter-connects and found a reasonably priced set that removed some harshness that remained.

5) Some of the source material I liked listening to was poorly recorded. I had a seamstress sew up 2 black rectangles the size of oversized placemats that I drape over the top of my speakers to cover the tweeters and sometimes the mids as well to damped any remaining harshness. I only have to apply this additional dampening on occasion.

I hope you can draw something from my experiences

Good luck,

-David

[safetyman]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'll leave the Bosoz out of the equation for the moment as it means having to add another component into the system.

I am looking more into the room mode first and I'll definitely have a go at putting in a larger and heavier carpet to see if it will improve the response. I am also trying my hand at making some diffusers to see if they will also help with the room response.

I have tried my present components in my friend's system and they don't show the glare that I am facing. Except for this glare/harshness, it sounds good to me.

I'll have a go at the carpet and the diffuders and post back here on the results.

[safetyman]

Had a day off and DIYed a diffuser out of wood. Measures 2' X 3'. Placed it next to the speaker on one side and on the other I used a 2' X 3' acoustic foam resembling Parts Express # 305-110. These are for the first reflections that have been giving me the ringing and the echos.

Tried a pair of Snell Acoustics Type J/III in place of the Epos ES11, and now, with most of the ringing taken care of and the higher efficiency Snells, my system is performing the best that I have heard. Happy that a few hours of sweat reaped so much benefits. The layers in the soundstage amazed me.

I am going to get a larger piece of rug later and hopefully, after that I can just sit back and be contented and enjoy the music, finally.

Thanks everybody.