Solid state preamp grain compared to valves

[Ali Tait]

Yes looking forward to hearing it. Tribute are amongst the best audio transformer makers on the planet.

[anthonyTD]

Yes looking forward to hearing it. Tribute are amongst the best audio transformer makers on the planet.

[Barry]

Hope they sound awful, as Tribute are no longer supplying the DIY market, so none of us can procure them now.

Nah only joking! - will read your findings with interest. Are they a two winding design or an autoformer design?

[walpurgis]

We are very good at picking up phase errors. Speakers have by far more of an influence on this though e.g. port / crossover phase shift, group delay etc.

Very true in my opinion. I'm sure I'm sensitive to that. I don't tend to like multi driver speakers and much prefer dual concentrics or full range drivers, probably for this reason. Mind you, even single driver speakers have phase anomalies.

[struth]

It is without question some form of distortion. In the case of CD with an active pre-amp you are taking a signal, amplifying it and then attenuating it again before passing it to the power amp. That's sub-optimal compared to simply attenuating the signal from the cd player, it seems to me?

Sounds like a gain issue with the higher input of cd

[anthonyTD]

Overload margins of equipment is certainly worth considering' as to the cause of a certain type of nastiness experienced with some systems.
A...

[Edward]

We are very good at picking up phase errors. Speakers have by far more of an influence on this though e.g. port / crossover phase shift, group delay etc.

I would rather have excellent phase and time domain performance than a flat frequency response, any day.

In my recent DSP experiments/playground this is precisely what I found. I was shocked how much difference a tiny bit of time correction can make versus say changing crossover points or even having overlapping (due to operator error) freq ranges.

[Ali Tait]

Hope they sound awful, as Tribute are no longer suppling the DIY market, so none of us can procure them now.

Nah only joking! - will read your findings with interest. Are they a two winding design or an autoformer design?

Lol cheers Barry. They are an autoformer design, from what I’ve read built to a higher spec than the Slagles.

Ant, of BTE designs is putting it in a chassis for me, he’s tried it out in his system and he now wants a pair!

Should be able to buy these from Tribute, I believe it’s only bespoke diy transformer designs he’s no longer producing. Don’t know what the cost is new, but I’d imagine not cheap.

[Barry]

Lol cheers Barry. They are an autoformer design, from what I’ve read built to a higher spec than the Slagles.

Ant, of BTE designs is putting it in a chassis for me, he’s tried it out in his system and he now wants a pair!

Should be able to buy these from Tribute, I believe it’s only bespoke diy transformer designs he’s no longer producing. Don’t know what the cost is new, but I’d imagine not cheap.

That's good to know. No, they won't be cheap - transformer design is becoming a lost art and winding them with care is a time-consuming business.

Despite the acknowledged simplicity and elegance of a resistive attenuator, I've always admired a TVC as the change in output impedance is more benign. And an autoformer can confer some advantages over a two coil design.

Again, I'll be be reading your findings with interest.

[Ali Tait]

I will post up my impressions when I’ve given it a good listen.