Advice On Pre Amp

[tannoy man]

Hi,I need a Pre Amp to go with my Radford STA25. The Lack of Remote Control Volume
is Doing My Head in, What I Dont Want is a Pre with a High Output Like My Croft.
A Usable Volume Range is My Aim and I was Thinking of a McIntosh C2200 but would
Hate to Spend all that Money, and Not have a Good Match.

Any Advice or Suggestions would be Welcome, Thanks

Ps I Would Be Buying Used and Wont Get to Hear It in Situ

[Reffc]

Hi,I need a Pre Amp to go with my Radford STA25. The Lack of Remote Control Volume
is Doing My Head in, What I Dont Want is a Pre with a High Output Like My Croft.
A Usable Volume Range is My Aim and I was Thinking of a McIntosh C2200 but would
Hate to Spend all that Money, and Not have a Good Match.

Any Advice or Suggestions would be Welcome, Thanks

Ps I Would Be Buying Used and Wont Get to Hear It in Situ

I've been fortunate to try out several Radford Revival STA 25s (Will and Steve are good friends) and the croft is perfect. You just need to change the feedback resistors from 470 KOhm to either 220 KOhm(intermediate gain) or 100KOhm. It costs pennies, heck I'll even do it for you if you pop up with the amp to me, otherwise Gelnn can do this for you. I found it a great preamp with both STA 15 and STA 25.

[DSJR]

You need a pre with remote - here's a few cheap suggestions for used stuff...

AVI S2000 series - either version will do, the first one being band limited and slightly 'sweet toned,' the second version (mine) offering then-optional built in phono stage (MM and MC) and a 'wide open' performance/transparency to the source fed it. Philips language on the remote and dinky looks.

MF XP-100 preamp - good sonics, reasonable MM phono stage and remote control. I believe easy to tune up as well. Nothing like as review-hyped and complex as the otherwise similar sounding Nu-Vista thingy that immediately preceeded it.

Original Cyrus preamp - The one with balanced outs on the back and discrete componentry. Good punchy sound from this generation and I admire it very much. I'm afraid I don't know how different the replacement models are or were. Hobbled power supplies on all Cyrus necessitating a Naim-like power supply upgrade path but used prices not silly now.

Quad 77. Lousy remote control if it fails, but sounds more valvey than many valve preamps. Sweet with very musical reproduction of timbres, loads of atmosphere reproduction and a fine (IMO) phono stage too. I love this one to bits, even though it's sound is ever-so-slightly too good to be true :) I don't think the more remote-friendly 99 replacement can be got separately.

As said above, The Croft range over the years will also be fine, but no remote option! As for messing around with feedback resistors in the preamp, Glenn says the setting as supplied is 'best' for his circuit. Altering this to cut down the gain isn't an ideal solution I understand. Surely there are lower output valves that may be used instead?

[tannoy man]

Thanks, but I need More Inputs and Remote Volume, My 12" and 7" Singles,, CDs, Old and New
all have Differing Outputs ( its hard work going from a Squeeze 5" vinyl to a Stooges cd :steam:

[Reffc]

You need a pre with remote - here's a few cheap suggestions for used stuff...

AVI S2000 series - either version will do, the first one being band limited and slightly 'sweet toned,' the second version (mine) offering then-optional built in phono stage (MM and MC) and a 'wide open' performance/transparency to the source fed it. Philips language on the remote and dinky looks.

MF XP-100 preamp - good sonics, reasonable MM phono stage and remote control. I believe easy to tune up as well. Nothing like as review-hyped and complex as the otherwise similar sounding Nu-Vista thingy that immediately preceeded it.

Original Cyrus preamp - The one with balanced outs on the back and discrete componentry. Good punchy sound from this generation and I admire it very much. I'm afraid I don't know how different the replacement models are or were. Hobbled power supplies on all Cyrus necessitating a Naim-like power supply upgrade path but used prices not silly now.

Quad 77. Lousy remote control if it fails, but sounds more valvey than many valve preamps. Sweet with very musical reproduction of timbres, loads of atmosphere reproduction and a fine (IMO) phono stage too. I love this one to bits, even though it's sound is ever-so-slightly too good to be true :) I don't think the more remote-friendly 99 replacement can be got separately.

As said above, The Croft range over the years will also be fine, but no remote option! As for messing around with feedback resistors in the preamp, Glenn says the setting as supplied is 'best' for his circuit. Altering this to cut down the gain isn't an ideal solution I understand. Surely there are lower output valves that may be used instead?

It was Glenn who advised the change of resistors David, it is perfectly fine and does not alter SQ in any way that is noticeable. I have tried various values and as a matter of fact with my own kit, the intermediate gain setting is perfect. The valves used are the only ones recommended as far as I am aware and changing them may have implications on heater voltages for different gain types, so the advice is DON'T unless first checking with Glenn.
As for a preamp with remote and lots of inputs, a great contender if within budget is the Perreaux Audiant. Very, very flexible, built in (fabulous sounding) DAC, full remote, USB connectivity along with RCA/balanced. Pricey but a great bit of kit.

[DSJR]

OK Paul. I obtained my info via hifi dave, who speaks to Glenn very regularly and has discussed this in recent times. Interesting though, that unless I'm mistaken, the current product may be better as regards low volume use on the controls, although I haven't directly compared early and new (probably my imagination as usual :mental:)

[Reffc]

OK Paul. I obtained my info via hifi dave, who speaks to Glenn very regularly and has discussed this in recent times. Interesting though, that unless I'm mistaken, the current product may be better as regards low volume use on the controls, although I haven't directly compared early and new (probably my imagination as usual :mental:)


I was worried about the same thing David, so spoke with Glenn a few months back...he emailed me the circuit details for changing. I mentioned lower gain valves but as I recall it, that wasn't advised and the feedback resistor change was. I don't think it's an issue really as all it does is lower the Mu of the valve so instead of being 60, you get 40 or even 30 as the amplification gain depending upon the resistor used. Only 3 feedback resistor values were mentioned...470kOhms for standard, 220KOhms intermediate and 100 KOhms for low output. I have mine at the intermediate setting so get at least half the volume travel on line level before things get too loud for the neighbours! the circuit hasn't altered as far as I know unless Glen has done something with it in the last 6 months?