Marchand 3 way XM126 Vacuum Tube Electronic Crossover

[gruvytune]

I have not gotten around to building this and don't believe it should just sit on a shelf. This is a 3 way version with stepped attenuators.

XM126 Vacuum Tube Electronic Crossover Network 2-way, 3-way or 4-way

Marchand Electronics Inc. Pricelist:

Marchand Electronics Inc. Pricelist

It is a full kit and is priced at $4100 built, and $2460 in kit form.

All is new and in the boxes as shipped from Marchand.

I am willing to sell at $2000 firm.

There are many reviews of this crossover online. It is considered one of the best.

 

[zcables]

Nice XO; GLWTS

 

[gruvytune]

buy it

 

[gruvytune]

Still for sale. Will take any reasonable offers near my asking price.
Thx

 

[gruvytune]

Still for sale. I've lowered my price to $1800
Marchand has stopped selling kits so this is an extremely generous offer.

 

[speakerfritz]

the picture you posted shows xlr, is that what you have? reason I ask is I'm looking for something like this and I have been poking around their site.

 

[gruvytune]

Oh, sorry, you are correct. I had to use their photo since mine is in kit form and in the boxes still. NO. it is single ended. I would advise you to not consider balanced unless you are planning on running more than 50 feet of rca cable since it provides no benefit for noise reduction otherwise and adds an otherwise unneeded transformer in the signal path. not to mention the hundreds of dollars in wasted expense.

 

[speakerfritz]

I guess it depends on the gear...my main amps have been reviewed and found to have significantly better signal to noise ratio using xlr.

 

[gruvytune]

Arguable for sure. Using a transformer to achieve such balanced lines for short runs of interconnect would result in no net benefit. best option is to listen to single ended first. if there is significant noise you can always invest in the parts to add balanced connections. Phil Marchand can easily provide them and it is then a matter of only drilling a couple of holes. The manual has all the needed instruction on adding them. you can view the entire xm126 manual here:

http://www.marchandelec.com/ftp/xm126man.pdf

 

[badman]

I use the 2 way version (with my own caps for the boards (mostly silver micas)) and am quite fond of it. A very useful toy, mine finds service instead of a digital XO because I have a good LP collection and don't want an A/D converter- once you throw away source resolution you can't get it back, and I've got an excellent vinyl rig with a lot invested into it.

 

[gruvytune]

very much agreed, Badman. And having listened to many crossovers, there is no comparison between opamps and tube crossovers. The resolution and neutral but high resolution "warmth" is inviting and less apt to even the slightest of grainy sound which I find lends to a bit of listerner fatigue as most would describe it. Similar to the sound of transistor amps vs mosfets/tubes. Although I don't find that is the case with preamps as much. Nice thing about the Marchand is you can completely do away with a preamp in most cases as there is ample gain from the crossover itself. Have you tried that?

 

[gruvytune]

Sold...