+ Reply to Thread
Page 7 of 11 FirstFirst ... 56789 ... LastLast
Results 61 to 70 of 110

Thread: Recommend me a preamp please?

  1. #61
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Southern England

    Posts: 2,990
    I'm Howard.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Edwardlon View Post
    Thanks Neil. Very interesting. Just had a quick look at see the maker (Richard Bews) seems highly regarded. His LS3 and anniversary pres are - um - expensive.

    Bit nervous buying from Poland though.

    Anyway, let me look further.
    Happy to help. In my direct personal experience with ebay in the event of a problem (providing you only use Paypal) in a dispute they ALWAYS take the side of the buyer. Until proven otherwise, the seller is always the default problem. A minimal risk as best i can judge. Bit different if the seller was in North Korea, but you never can tell. Neil

  2. #62
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: South Wales

    Posts: 9,151
    I'm NotTakingLifeTooSeriouslyTheseDays.

    Default

    A pasive working in a real world situation will only be as good as the matching of the impedances of both the source and power amp!
    Also cable capacitance, type of cables, and the length of said cables will all have a marked affect on conventional passive attenuators.
    So, taking these variables into account, IMHO, and from experience, the majority of folk who try a passive [conventional potentiometer, or switched attenuator] will not experience fully' the seemingly attractive merits of such simple attenuation...
    Quote Originally Posted by Arkless Electronics View Post
    As I said earlier it is not possible for an amplifier to change dynamics unless it is distorting. A passive can not change them at all as it never distorts. Only compression can occur and the this would have very obvious distortion with it. An amp running out of power and clipping is the most obvious example. If a 10W amp needs to produce 15W to reproduce the peaks well it can't do it so anything beyond 10W will be huge amounts of really nasty distortion rather than increased volume.
    "Today scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality"
    Nikola Tesla



    Its now a conspiracy theory to believe that the Immune system is capable of doing the job it was designed to do.
    A fish is only as healthy as the water its swimming in ! [Dr Robert Young]


    www.tubedistinctions.co.uk

    Matthew 5:10

  3. #63
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

    Default

    Roth and Ark, I thought we were discussing Ark's assertion that distortion can appear to give greater dynamics.

    I cannot see that clipping can do that, and indeed on another forum it was after a lengthy discussion with which I agree, far from increasing dynamics, that it does the reverse, it compresses.

  4. #64
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: Barnet, london UK

    Posts: 2,146
    I'm Adam.

    Default

    I thought we were responding to the OP request for a pre heads up...
    "lack of passion is fatal"


    Vinyl: Thorens TD-124mk2 / SME-312 Aluminium 'special' / SME M2-9R / STEREO: Etsuro Urushi Cobalt / Shure M3D / Ortofon SPU A95 / Cartridge Man Music Master / Shure - SC35C (US) / SAEC C3 MC MONO: Miyajima Zero B 0.7mil mono / Miyajima Premium 1.0 / Amps & SUTs: Radford STA25 mk3 / AD Audio 'Satchmo2' pre & LCR phono / Hashimoto HM-7 SUT / ETR-MONO SUT Digital: Audio Note 4.1 (with DAC5 upgrades) DAC / Roon / Tidal Speakers: Tannoy 12" MGs' in RFC custom 'Rutland' Cabinets with RFC crossovers / Tannoy ST-100 Super Tweeters Cables: LFD Grainless phono / RFC Mercury / Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper / Kimber 12TC / SW1X Audio Design USB-SPdif / Duelund DCA20GA interconnects / SW1X Audio SPDIF Aero 6 / Mains Power Conditioner / Box Furniture rack / Audiodesk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner / a very beautiful & understanding Wife!

  5. #65
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: NE England

    Posts: 4,173
    I'm Jez.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    Roth and Ark, I thought we were discussing Ark's assertion that distortion can appear to give greater dynamics.

    I cannot see that clipping can do that, and indeed on another forum it was after a lengthy discussion with which I agree, far from increasing dynamics, that it does the reverse, it compresses.
    OMG! I've been arguing the exact opposite from the beginning! And from a purely technical not subjective standpoint. And it's Mr Arkless to you Den!
    Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)

    Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
    ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
    Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
    Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco

  6. #66
    Join Date: Oct 2012

    Location: NE England

    Posts: 4,173
    I'm Jez.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by anthonyTD View Post
    A pasive working in a real world situation will only be as good as the matching of the impedances of both the source and power amp!
    Also cable capacitance, type of cables, and the length of said cables will all have a marked affect on conventional passive attenuators.
    So, taking these variables into account, IMHO, and from experience, the majority of folk who try a passive [conventional potentiometer, or switched attenuator] will not experience fully' the seemingly attractive merits of such simple attenuation...
    Whilst I disagree with everything you say the bit in bold I couldn't disagree more strongly with! THERE IS NO IMPEDANCE MATCHING OF ANY KIND! Impedance matching as such matters at RF where transmission lines of a certain characteristic impedance are matched to (usually) 50Ohms to give the best VSWR and to properly terminate filters etc. All that matters is that the source impedance is far lower than the load impedance. There is no magical figure where anything is in any way "matched".
    Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)

    Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
    ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
    Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
    Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco

  7. #67
    RothwellAudio Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    Roth and Ark, I thought we were discussing Ark's assertion that distortion can appear to give greater dynamics.

    I cannot see that clipping can do that, and indeed on another forum it was after a lengthy discussion with which I agree, far from increasing dynamics, that it does the reverse, it compresses.
    This is speculation and guesswork but it may be possible that the brief clipping of transients can create the impression of enhanced dynamics by generating HF harmonics which give a sense of "bite" and more attack.
    Yes, certainly gross and sustained clipping crushes dynamics but you have to have guitar fuzz box levels of distortion for that.

  8. #68
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: South Wales

    Posts: 9,151
    I'm NotTakingLifeTooSeriouslyTheseDays.

    Default

    Well,
    Your perfectly entitled to your opinion, the same as I am, but as on many occasions, your black and white attitude wont discourage me, and I will continue to put my point across, whether you agree with it or not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Arkless Electronics View Post
    Whilst I disagree with everything you say the bit in bold I couldn't disagree more strongly with! THERE IS NO IMPEDANCE MATCHING OF ANY KIND! Impedance matching as such matters at RF where transmission lines of a certain characteristic impedance are matched to (usually) 50Ohms to give the best VSWR and to properly terminate filters etc. All that matters is that the source impedance is far lower than the load impedance. There is no magical figure where anything is in any way "matched".
    "Today scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality"
    Nikola Tesla



    Its now a conspiracy theory to believe that the Immune system is capable of doing the job it was designed to do.
    A fish is only as healthy as the water its swimming in ! [Dr Robert Young]


    www.tubedistinctions.co.uk

    Matthew 5:10

  9. #69
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

    Default

    First of all I apologise Arkless Electronics and Rothwell Audio if my abbreviations have caused offence; that was not intended,and perhaps a bit lazy of me.

    In post 45 there seems on reflection to have been a divergence on the point being discussed.

    You went on to talk about clipping, a subject I was not considering. I was thinking about distortion originating within an amplifier quite other than clipping, perhaps giving the impression of greater dynamics.

    What I had in mind was the peculiar results I had with my old Nelson-Jones 10+10 on one particular track by Michael Hedges. Its effect was to somehow hype and increase the sense of attack of his guitar, and in a way I have never again heard on any other system. That may have been interpreted as sounding more dynamic.

    Regarding impedance match, the standard used in telecoms and in broadcasting was 600 ohms, this from transmission line theory, but it may have changed. It was based on maximum power transfer theory and avoidance of standing waves and reflections. I remember drawing the Gaussian graph of power transfer at college.
    We have 75 ohms for FM aerials.

    I remember at that time, about '75, arguing with my telecoms lecturer when we introduced audio amplifiers into the source/load matching discussion, saying that with audio amplifiers we are not interested in power transfer from source to load, but that we are interested in voltage transfer to load, which we want to maximise.

    I think your post 67 Rothwell Audio gives a very reasonable postulation, and it probably agrees with my 'Hedges experience'.

    Punctuation can improve communication and reduce ambiguity.

  10. #70
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pharos View Post
    Punctuation can improve communication and reduce ambiguity.
    Indeed it can; in fact it is the sole reason it exists.

    As I pointed out earlier when people use the word 'dynamics' they do not use it to mean 'dynamics' as in the text-book explanation, it is often used to have other meanings and is then as 'subjective' an expression as 'musicality'. So the fact that some people say that passives 'lack dynamics' does not mean they heard a lack of dynamics, but what they personally call dynamics, which could actually be anything.

    If we don't mean the same thing with the same word then communication starts to become difficult. When technical terms are co-opted as general subjective descriptions the problem escalates. This is the source of many on line argument between two or more people who actually agree, they just don't realise they do.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

+ Reply to Thread
Page 7 of 11 FirstFirst ... 56789 ... LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •