WANTED Pre-amp with balanced outputs

[jandl100]

What Have You? :)

.... suggestions also welcomed.

This is an experiment as I have been told that my Bel Canto eVo4 power amp, when bridged to two channels as mine is, sounds much better when fed a balanced signal.

Price? oooh, £0 - about £1k absolute max.

[John]

Jerry you are more than welcome to borrow mine for a few days; you can also get the World Design in Balanced and that sounds pretty good

[jandl100]

Thanks John - what is it that you've got? I'll be happy to pay postage both ways of course.

Also, I didn't know WD did balanced, that's an interesting option.

[John]

I have the YS Audio A2 SE I find it better than the Music First I used to have
Here is a link for the world design balanced pre
http://wduk.worldomain.net/acatalog/info_WDPRE3XL.html Great value for money and sounds pretty good to my ears

[DSJR]

Apparently, the WD preamp responds well to tube and cap rolling too, if that floats your boat.

[Beechwoods]

From what I've read I'd say that Jerry loves a good tube rolling :)

[Ali Tait]

He's not the only one! :)

[jandl100]

Jerry you are more than welcome to borrow mine for a few days;

You have a PM, John. :)

[jandl100]

From what I've read I'd say that Jerry loves a good tube rolling :)

Sho' nuff, boss :smoking:

.... some genuine Telefunken pcc88 valves should be on their way to me shortly! ;)

[Starburst]

There's a chance my Promethius Audio Ref4 TVC will be spare. I should know for certain in a weeks time. It's stock (unmodded) and is about a month old. New cost £495.

3 line in (2 phono, 1 balanced xlr)
3 pre out (2 phono, 1 balanced xlr)

My experience using it with a Beresford TC7510 suggests it wants a higher voltage input though. I think your TC7520 is 1.2V output like my TC7510.

Lee

[jandl100]

Thanks, Starburst, but I'm sorted now with a "vintage" Musical Fidelity F22 valve pre-amp. :)

.... and having tried it, I much prefer its RCA outputs over its XLR outputs!

[DSJR]

I'd composed a reply but it disappeared into the ether..

Quickly, get rid of the MF F pre (ugh!!!) and replace it with the old X series XP100, it's much better and similar to the over-hyped Nu-Vista which is very similar in sound but more complex.......

Balanced is only really better in VERY long cable runs. Domestically, it's just not needed to be honest. As long as the pre is designed to drive long cables to the amps and has a low output impedance, then you'll be fine - the main area where my AVI preamp is far better than the Croft. Using short interconnects, the Croft doesn't sound hugely different and I'm using it because I need a warm glow in my life right now :)

[jandl100]

Quickly, get rid of the MF F pre (ugh!!!) and replace it with the old X series XP100, it's much better and similar to the over-hyped Nu-Vista which is very similar in sound but more complex.......


Ha ha - you have got to be joking. ;) Replace the usual naff stock tubes in the F22 and it's a fantastic sounding piece of kit. I can recommend you a good doc to get you ears cleaned out, DSJR :mental: :)

I also had a NuVista pre a while back. Truly awful - grainy and smeared. Yuk. To each their own, eh? I am really happy with the F22.

[Ali Tait]

What valves does it use Jerry?

[jandl100]

The F22 uses four ecc88, which I've replaced with pcc88. Superb! :)

[DSJR]

Ha ha - you have got to be joking. ;) Replace the usual naff stock tubes in the F22 and it's a fantastic sounding piece of kit. I can recommend you a good doc to get you ears cleaned out, DSJR :mental: :)

I also had a NuVista pre a while back. Truly awful - grainy and smeared. Yuk. To each their own, eh? I am really happy with the F22.

I'm trying to ease you away from this manufacturer you numpty :lolsign: :lol:

The Nu-Vistas we sold at KJ were bright to the point of almost being piercing. The XP100 wasn't as bad and having tried it in different environments/dem rooms/shops and having compared its output with its input I thought it was pretty truthful to the signal fed it. My view of when they were new obviously, but shared with other trade members of the time. The other KK w@nkfest pre was the £4K Graff one and having tried his review sample at home, I found the same thing. lean toned and almost piercing, with lovely expensive oil filled caps getting extremely hot and smelly after an hour or so.

The Nu-Vista shouldn't be at all grainy and smeared, but these are 10+ years old now and may have gone off big-time by now. One reason for trying to steer you away from this brand...

[Ali Tait]

Well I bought Jerry's A370.and I think it's a cracking bit of kit!

[jandl100]

Hmmm - it would be a shame if this forum developed a gratuitous anti-MF tone like some others. They make some good kit, imho, albeit with an 'interesting' take on marketing hype and new model frequency.

I don't know about the Graaf WFB1 (I think you meant), but it is well thought of still and I had the cheaper WFB2 for a while, and OK it wasn't neutral but was a damn nice listen nonetheless! :) There are far worse ways to waste audio-money. ;)