WANTED: preamp, £2k+ budget, any ideas?

[Reffc]

Tom

your list of requirements is a perfectly sensible tick list for a well designed active linestage, and there are probably many that do fit the bill. I can think of some including:

Plinius M16;

Audio Research LS26, or even the humble LS9?

Unison Research Unico Pre;

The curve-ball with everything you've asked for including very impressive measurements and toobs!.....Icon Audio LA4Mk3

I must admit, I do like your Modwright. I also like Will's active which also ticks all the boxes. It needs a new, made for it, chassis plus some new decent pots, but other than that I know measures very well and sounds pretty good. I'll be getting another listen to that one in a few weeks.

I agree with you that in your system, a passive is not the way to go. Passives suit some power amps better than others. In theory, yours ought to work well with one but the problem is that your phono stage has a pretty high output impedance so getting a decent match without squashing dynamics will prove harder than finding a decent active pre or using a passive with active buffer stage (preferably valves).

If I end up going the route that we recently discussed, you'd be more than welcome to audition it.

[Ali Tait]

I had one of these, built by Rabski on the Wam, it was good but I think the Modwright is already better.

EDIT OOPS wrote too soon this is a new model I'll look into it.

Yes, supposed to be considerably better.

[Volante]

I have a Tron Nucleus pre-amp which I am arranging to have serviced by Graham Tricker, and which i may be moving on to reduce my number of boxes. If you are interested I will try to get more information and pics. You may be familiar with it. If not there is quite a lot of chat about it on the Wam. It is shoe-box sized, has a separate PSU and is very heavy. Neil

[walpurgis]

Like asking for a Morris 1000 with a 13b Rotary ( Yes there is at least one I know of, as I built the engine for it, and is still running well )

That's a bloody weird combination. You should have stuck an Alfa V6 in!

[WESTLOWER]

David Coe would be able to help you on your quest, top notch engineer based in Wimbledon, many can vouch for him, including PeterRat whom
passed him onto me. He builds some fantastic Pre amps and has units for demo i believe.. https://adaudioconsultants.wordpress.com

[Light Dependant Resistor]

That's a bloody weird combination. You should have stuck an Alfa V6 in!

Yes it was a work of art getting the 13B in, as well as an RX7 gearbox. A real low impedance source.

[DSJR]

I take it a passive pre is out of the question? Unless you're using very long interconnects, I'm not sure these days if an active line stage is strictly necessary - and so many vintage preamps are coloured to high heaven in tone if not clarity and don't really deserve the tag 'High Fidelity' as they altered the incoming signal so very much.

Sorry, no names or pack drill, but once you've compared the raw source signal into a suitable power amp and then heard the degradation an older active preamp puts in, it kind of stays with you forever......

If an active pre is important, then have a look at a Croft 25RS two box jobbie. FAR less tonally coloured than a typical ARC, which usually adds excess warmth of 'tone' (ARC can't even get their reference range right as they change every eighteen months for commercial reasons and never actually get 'better') and it makes all cheaper Crofts sound limited and a bit scrappy in direct comparison. Keep the power supply box out of ear-shot though

[Lawrence001]

For someone who doesn't want a passive or a croft you're getting a lot of suggestions!

[montesquieu]

I take it a passive pre is out of the question? Unless you're using very long interconnects, I'm not sure these days if an active line stage is strictly necessary - and so many vintage preamps are coloured to high heaven in tone if not clarity and don't really deserve the tag 'High Fidelity' as they altered the incoming signal so very much.

Sorry, no names or pack drill, but once you've compared the raw source signal into a suitable power amp and then heard the degradation an older active preamp puts in, it kind of stays with you forever......

If an active pre is important, then have a look at a Croft 25RS two box jobbie. FAR less tonally coloured than a typical ARC, which usually adds excess warmth of 'tone' (ARC can't even get their reference range right as they change every eighteen months for commercial reasons and never actually get 'better') and it makes all cheaper Crofts sound limited and a bit scrappy in direct comparison. Keep the power supply box out of ear-shot though

Oh FFS.

My extensive experience leads me to the conclusion that fans of passive preamps are either deaf, delusional or have never heard a decent preamp.

And to suggest a Croft is better than, say an ARC Ref 3 or Ref 5? Not in my book. I had a Ref 5 in here for a visit not so long ago, it was absolutely superb.

[Spectral Morn]

My Balanced Audio Technology VK31 Se answers most of your requirements, it has a tape out but not a record/monitor facility.

Sadly I am not willing to ship it all over the place for auditions, so from that aspect it doesn't meet your needs.

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...-pre-amplifier