Expert advice on what preamp to chose

[Jay]

Let me say that it has no character whatsoever. It only amplifies signals - that's it.

There's no such thing.

You could say boring, it changes nothing. This power amp is the epitome of amplification. He can push hundreds of watts effortlessly and in a way you beg for more. It's the one component I would not change.

Why not a matching preamp from the same company?

How about changing the speaker? A class-D amp might have difficulty with some speakers. And a good speaker should sound good even with horrible amp.

 

[CENTRAL]

There's no such thing.

Ha!

You haven't heard this one. It's as close as one can get to a "wire with gain".

(with all due respect...)

I think I will do this:

I will keep the Pass and will eventually get a tube preamp to play with.

The Auriga is a strong contender and I also consider the Bottlehead Foreplay III. I will not spare any more money than that.

As I explained I am in no hurry. I will decide over the next few months...

 

[grhughes]

Things to consider about preamps.

1. How far is the preamp from the power amp. If it's over 10 feet then I would be using balanced lines and transformer coupling. Unbalanced cables over ten feet can be an equalizer depending on impedances This is the only reason to have an active preamp and I would second the Electraprint ultrapath. 2. If you don't need a phono preamp, then most cd players and tuners put out a voltage greater than 1v peak to peak, so really a preamp with gain is not necessary and will sound better if you got rid of the preamp stage. "The best preamp is no preamp...." Most power amps can be driven to clipping with 1 volt peak to peak. So all you really need is a volume control and passive switching of the input and tape monitor. If your power amp has a volume control on it then you could go ahead and try it without a preamp by just connecting the cd player to the power amp. 3. If you are going to use a preamp then it needs to be simple one stage with about 10db of gain to compensate for insertion loss in the volume control and transformer output. Then you could place the power amp near the speakers and have a minimum amount of speaker cable. Long cables are a bad idea unless they are balanced. Ray

 

[CENTRAL]

Thanx Ray!

Distances are minimal even for the speakers. The whole st-up occupies less than 7ft in length. Despite that the connection between ths pre and power amp is balanced.

 

[kevinkr]

The B1 only offers 2 inputs which is no use...

Any other solution with more inputs maybe?

Take a look at BAT and ARC...

 

[Jay]

Ha! You haven't heard this one. It's as close as one can get to a "wire with gain". (with all due respect...)

If you believe in the "wire with gain" thing (even tho you know that it is more than just a wire in your amp), there's no reason for you not to believe that "the best preamp is no preamp".

Then you can start to pay attention to your source (it is CD, isn't it?). Many things to do here, but do you have op-amp or not in the signal chain? If yes, there is a possibility to use a better op-amp. There is possibility to use multiple better shunt regulators.

The analog amplification after the DAC is very important here because it acts more or less like a preamp. What "preamp" do you have here? Is there any needs to add more gain? How about adding a volume pot (or even a TVC)? You can do something to the circuit to match the impedances of your DAC and amp, so that you don't need a dedicated preamp.

If you are still not satisfied with the sound of your system, remember that the speaker IS the most important thing in the audio chain. What is your speaker? I prefer a correctly designed cheap speaker than a badly designed expensive speaker.

If you already have a good source and a good speaker but you still are not satisfied with the sound of your system, then suspect everything. What is the value of having a very good transparent "wire with gain" system if it cannot satisfy you???

Many of us have years of experience with this audio thing. We started with "cheap" system with its limitations. Then we wanted more. At the end we ended up with expensive transparent system that is very impressive but dissatisfying.

Then came the time where we put more focus on these things that will bring satisfaction than just on things that will impress us. We started to look for the signs of enjoyment/boredom, fatigue, musicality, etc. instead of transparency, neutrality, etc.