Croft micro 25 Line Preamp

[walpurgis]

Little Bear MC2 passive pre arrived today. Just plugged It Into the Quad 306 and played a quick selection of music from cold. On quick listen It seems at least as good as my Onix oa21. Less detail that the Cambridge Audio 651A that I used to own but I sold It In favour of the Onix because the highs seemed a bit unnatural.

Good. I don't see how anybody could be disappointed with one of these for the money.

[fatmarley]

The 306 Is a nice little amp for the money too.

[walpurgis]

The 306 Is a nice little amp for the money too.

Just using a borrowed Promitheus TVC pre-amp with mine, it's taken it to a whole new level. This little pre-amp sounds amazingly good with the Quad and suits it a treat. I can't say the sound is inferior to my Class A or valve power amps. It is different though.

[Ninanina]

Matt I had a Croft integrated amp, the latest version, in for testing and I was very disappointed with it... very flat sounding to me... that was compared to my AN amps so perhaps it was an unfair comparison, price wise, to be honest

I did own a Croft Vitale pre many years ago which I used with Quad II's and I was very impressed with that amp..

Don't know if that helps at all

[fatmarley]

Just using a borrowed Promitheus TVC pre-amp with mine, it's taken it to a whole new level. This little pre-amp sounds amazingly good with the Quad and suits it a treat. I can't say the sound is inferior to my Class A or valve power amps. It is different though.

I did consider a TVC but read a few bad opinions that put me off. Someone said they're a bit soft sounding IIRC.

[fatmarley]

Matt I had a Croft integrated amp, the latest version, in for testing and I was very disappointed with it... very flat sounding to me... that was compared to my AN amps so perhaps it was an unfair comparison, price wise, to be honest

I did own a Croft Vitale pre many years ago which I used with Quad II's and I was very impressed with that amp..

Don't know if that helps at all

From what I understand the Croft preamp Is the star of the show, so It doesn't completely surprise me. Although I never Imagined Croft to sound flat.

I had a dem of a valve amp on my speakers and that sounded flat, but It was only because the amp struggled to drive them - Could that have been the problem?

[walpurgis]

I did consider a TVC but read a few bad opinions that put me off. Someone said they're a bit soft sounding IIRC.

Whoever said that is mistaken. I have two TVC's pre-amps here and both are incredibly lucid and tight, with excellent bass definition.

[fatmarley]

Whoever said that is mistaken. I have two TVC's pre-amps here and both are incredibly lucid and tight, with excellent bass definition.

Have you tried both TVCs on the 306?

What version of the Promitheus TVC are you trying?

[walpurgis]

Have you tried both TVCs on the 306?

What version of the Promitheus TVC are you trying?

Yes. I have. The Promitheus suits the Quad best. It's the basic version TVC I believe.

The other TVC is a MingDa MC-9 and sounds incredible driving my Monarchy Audio power amps (try finding one for sale, there ain't none).

[walpurgis]

Here's a shot of both.