Looking for advice

[williamsgrandad]

Hi
Any ideas would be most helpful
I would like to put together a system at my girlfriends home.
The room is 7x5x2.5 (lwh)and will fire up the room
I have some Canary 300b pp monoblocks and Tonian Labs TL-D1 speakers.
The speakers are rare over herebut sound (to my ears)superb.
The cabinets are tuned like a musical instrument and are described by the designer as semi open baffle and are 95db.
I have a Lector cd player at my daughters that I can also make use of.
I am looking for suggestions for a preamp in the £1500 range(used)
Any advice will be greatly appreciated
Cheers all
Ian

[eddieedwards]

Might be worth having a chat with Kevin, at definitive.

[hifi_dave]

Croft.

[Andy831]

I liked using a passive pre when I was using 300b's, and still do with my Set 40 (211) my speakers are similar sensitivity however my room is much smaller so you may need something to give the power a lift.

[Lawrence001]

If features like remote and tape loop are not required I would suggest trying a passive. They won't work with every system but can be found cheap (e.g. Tisbury) and are handy to have as a spare pre anyway.


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[williamsgrandad]

Thanks for all the advice
Ian

[farflungstar]

It totally depends on the passive used, the grunt going into it and the impedance after it. In my opinion stay away from conventional pots of any kind. They will not exhibit the transparency of a transformer based passive. Likewise ordinary transformer based passives don't exhibit the same dynamic range as autoformers at low listening levels. My phonostage runs straight into the Slagle and drives the Cary 805c's to full volume with ease - but, I never need to listen further than around 10 to the hour as even at very low levels, and with the Audio Notes 92db , my room is filled with dynamic, wideband music. This is the hallmark of a good autoformer.

You have many choices - but having gone the Alps pot/stepped resistor/transformer/autoformer route I know my preference.

One that I haven't tried is the Tribute transformer control which is beautifully crafted and said to be very very good as well as being very easy to house yourself as it looks like and connects up like a typical pot - it's actually stunning to behold, and is within your budget.

The Slagle copper autoformers are about €350 and awesome but they also need housing. Well worth it though. The modules are easy to connect up.

The Music first, in my opinion, isn't worth the huge price over the Slagle. I tried the Baby reference and it didn't match the Slagles liquidity.

You have a lot to think about - but as long as you're front end can drive it, you shouldn't have anything but a grin on your face if you go the autoformer route. Your amps will be the standard input impedance I should imagine - so no probs.

Just my opinions of course.
Adey

In perpetual pursuit.

[Arkless Electronics]

It totally depends on the passive used, the grunt going into it and the impedance after it. In my opinion stay away from conventional pots of any kind. They will not exhibit the transparency of a transformer based passive. Likewise ordinary transformer based passives don't exhibit the same dynamic range as autoformers at low listening levels. My phonostage runs straight into the Slagle and drives the Cary 805c's to full volume with ease - but, I never need to listen further than around 10 to the hour as even at very low levels, and with the Audio Notes 92db , my room is filled with dynamic, wideband music. This is the hallmark of a good autoformer.

You have many choices - but having gone the Alps pot/stepped resistor/transformer/autoformer route I know my preference.

One that I haven't tried is the Tribute transformer control which is beautifully crafted and said to be very very good as well as being very easy to house yourself as it looks like and connects up like a typical pot - it's actually stunning to behold, and is within your budget.

The Slagle copper autoformers are about €350 and awesome but they also need housing. Well worth it though. The modules are easy to connect up.

The Music first, in my opinion, isn't worth the huge price over the Slagle. I tried the Baby reference and it didn't match the Slagles liquidity.

You have a lot to think about - but as long as you're front end can drive it, you shouldn't have anything but a grin on your face if you go the autoformer route. Your amps will be the standard input impedance I should imagine - so no probs.

Just my opinions of course.
Adey

In perpetual pursuit.

Just to confuse the OP my advice is the exact opposite of everything said above I'm afraid.... Don't use transformers as they are another unneeded component in the chain which have their own colouration , distortion etc. I'm strongly against the use of transformers anywhere but power supplies BTW...

This should do the trick nicely if going the passive route http://www.khozmo.com/stereo_selector.html

[struth]

be inclined to think about a croft initially too as they are easily resalable if you dont like it.

[farflungstar]

The khozmo has been compared many times to various transformer based passives and whilst way better than the ubiquitous Alps blue pot it couldn't compete on transparency or dynamics. Like all pots it's curve isn't linear in the sense that it's performance changes depending on its position - like all pots it needs cranking before dynamics come through. Autoformers have this even at barely audible levels.

There is certainly no zero distortion with my volume control, that I can detect. Neither is there veiling or erratic performance based on position.

I would have thought that logic says a single run of wire (transformer) introduces less distortion than switched, stepped resistor type pots or wiper type - hence the need to deoxit them every now and again.

Adey

In perpetual pursuit.