Croft pre-amps differences.

[Ali Tait]

Yeah worked out cheaper then!

[dowser]

I recently bought an old Micro II off a kind member here (thanks again Alan if you're reading!). I emailed Glenn for some advice and he responded quickly with good/free advice with no thought of financial gain.

I was so impressed with his service levels I ended up shipping it straight to him for a once over and to update it to latest output stage spec. He received it yesterday and contacted me in the evening saying it was done and would I like him to change the noisy/microphonic ECC83s - I proceeded as his choice was the same as mine (JJs), and at a price better than I could get them for!

It's being collected Monday by UPS - can't wait to hook it up and have a listen! I've been running DIY modified Chinese pre's up until now; I started with a Marantz 7 cct clone (whatever that is, bore no relation to any Marantz cct I ever saw!) to which I fitted decent selector & volume controls, rewired with star-point earthing and fitted some decent tubes.

I happily used this for a year or two, but it was line level only and when the opportunity arose to get a Yaqin MS-12B I took it to try the valve phono stage. This has been a revelation compared to the Naim cards I was using before, much preferable to my ears - the Yaqin is still stock except for some decent tubes. While vinyl sounds better than my previous valve pre and Naim phono cards, line level is not as good - I initially intended to rebuild the Yaqin, but then the Micro came up.

I suspect this will offer me all I need (and hopefully more) at reasonable cost (both purchase price and service costs from Glenn).

Has anyone compared sound from a Chinese preamp and a Croft Micro?

Sorry, long rambling post!

Richard

[basnas]

Hi Marco

Very nice Croft Charisma, can you tell me is the line stage with anode follower or cathode follower.?

Just because i just ordre a Croft Series 7, and my old Croft epoch is with a cathode follower. The cathode follower is more reclining (soft)
Maybe the Anode follower suit the serie 7 better.

best jan

best jan

[ElTwang]

How did the A/B'ing go, Marco?