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Thread: Suggestions for preamp upgrade

  1. #11
    Join Date: Sep 2009

    Location: west mids, UK

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    I'm Phil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by tatami View Post
    This is a really interesting suggestion, thank you, Rob. I hadn't come across the Schiit Saga and it has the definite advantage of being about a quarter the price of the Icon and Primaluna options. I just called Schiit's UK distributor and he's offered to loan me his demo unit in a couple of weeks' time. He's concerned that in tube mode it might cause hum on the electrostatics (but that shouldn't be the case in passive mode).

    I'm going to try and get the Schiit and Icon preamps on loan together so I can plug them into my system and audition them alongside my Quad 66. Should be interesting.

    Thank you too, Frazeur1 and Light Dependant Resistor for your thoughts. I'm learning a lot here and it's really interesting.

    Philip
    the saga does not hum at all in valve mode that i can see . the freya has 14db gain in valve mode and there can be a tiny tiny little bit of noise but its very small . i only notice it with my sensitive horns . it was deadly silent with my tannoys and the quad 2905 i heard it with

    look forward how it compares . i use a brimar valve in the saga courtesy of jerry and i like it . the freya has a bit more slam but i think the saga is very good

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  2. #12
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

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    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RothwellAudio View Post
    The spec for a Quad 606 is 0.5V for 140W into 8 ohms. 0.775V is pretty typical for many power amps, and 0.5V is only 4dB more sensitive than that, so I think "incredible sensitivity" is something of an overstatement.
    Agree but QUAD amps do seem to work especially well with passive pots. Heard that more than once.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  3. #13
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

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    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    Agree but QUAD amps do seem to work especially well with passive pots. Heard that more than once.
    Since digital sources have a typical maximum output level of 2V, the 0.5V sensitivity of Quad amplifiers is sufficiently high to allow the use of a passive pot.
    Barry

  4. #14
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

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    I'm Martin.

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    2V is the Red Book standard but some CD players go up to 3V. Don't know about DACS but I imagine it's similar. One set up I heard was run from a Memorex cassette deck into QED passive pot into QUAD 303. Really good sound.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  5. #15
    Join Date: May 2010

    Location: Worcestershire, UK

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    I'm Rob.

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    I'm glad my suggestion was of interest.

    Quote Originally Posted by tatami View Post
    I'm going to try and get the Schiit and Icon preamps on loan together so I can plug them into my system and audition them alongside my Quad 66. Should be interesting.
    It will be interesting to hear how the comparison turns out.
    Rob.
    Powered by crossed fingers and clenched buttocks

  6. #16
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

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    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    2V is the Red Book standard but some CD players go up to 3V. Don't know about DACS but I imagine it's similar. One set up I heard was run from a Memorex cassette deck into QED passive pot into QUAD 303. Really good sound.
    Even more reason to try a passive pot.
    Barry

  7. #17
    Join Date: Sep 2013

    Location: North Island New Zealand

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    I'm Chris.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    Even more reason to try a passive pot.
    Or opto coupled passive attenuation with contact less switching of inputs.

  8. #18
    Join Date: Jun 2015

    Location: London/Durham

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    I'm Lawrence.

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    I was waiting for that! When others say an amp is sensitive enough to be suitable for a passive do we not need to also consider input impedance?

    If you go for a passive with a sensitive power amp, watch out for channel imbalance at low levels if it has a pot, and sufficient steps to very volume how you like it at a low level if a stepped attenuator. I've had issues on both counts with otherwise excellent passives. Unless you always play it loud!

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

  9. #19
    Join Date: Sep 2013

    Location: North Island New Zealand

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    I'm Chris.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lawrence001 View Post
    I was waiting for that! When others say an amp is sensitive enough to be suitable for a passive do we not need to also consider input impedance?

    If you go for a passive with a sensitive power amp, watch out for channel imbalance at low levels if it has a pot, and sufficient steps to very volume how you like it at a low level if a stepped attenuator. I've had issues on both counts with otherwise excellent passives. Unless you always play it loud!

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk
    Input impedance of ? a power amp, In the case of LDR's no it hardly factors, and is easily compensated by choosing a slightly higher resistance shunt pair.
    With LDR's we are free to arrange more or less current to the anodes for shunt or the anodes for series,

    So gone are the days of LDR passives ( when done properly ) not matching to equipment. Typical figures are power amp sensitivity not to be higher than 2v for full output and
    resistance loading higher than 10k which is about 95% of available power amps.

    As for sources CD players DAC's dedicated phono stages and tuners ( other than Quad;s FM3 ) have more than adequate output.

    Where'as pot passives are sort of stuck, offering 10k as a minimum value, and have little ability to tailor shunt or series resistances separately.
    Mary Hallock Greenewalts patent of 1919-20 gives historical reference of rheostats - potentiometers, https://patents.google.com/patent/US1357773A/en
    that were never designed for audio at all, rather for Mary's musical light display - Nourathar

  10. #20
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Sheffield/Peak District. UK

    Posts: 574
    I'm Richard.

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    Another vote for the Schiit Saga and Quad here. I used a Dada-modified 306 with the Schiit and found it excellent.

    (I've since moved on to a Schiit Saga + WD KEL84 valve amp)

    If you're into valve designs (and/or fancy building one yourself) then I suggest looking at: http://www.world-designs.co.uk/products.htm

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