I've ordered a new preamp...

On the subject of passives with transformers, i had a listen to a Music First Passive Pre. Very nice, utterly trounced my PV-10. Not cheap at around £1500 though but sorely tempting nevertheless

 

Cracking post Dean, thanks, interesting reading, not least beacause I've just learnt something that until now I had misunderstood!!

Cheers

 

What did you learn?

Michael.

 

Yep, the remote Passion Ultimate from AS, that was the one and only pre (so far) I have on my mental shortlist should I ever decide to go back to the pre/power route again. What do you think of it Dean in comparison to other pre's you've experienced or have in your collection? Also, do you have any experiences with the phono (Passion Phono) version of that pre?

Not come across that one before. Looks very interesting/tempting to me too, even has balanced connections too. :MILD:

 

Hi HenryT,

The Audio Synthesis sound like a veil has been taken of the sound. It offers a level of quietness that a lot of pre amps can't match. This brings out fine detail & changes in tonal qualities. It beats the other in my collection. Plus it has a mighty fine remote control. It is revealing to front end changes, more so than with other items in my collection.

I have not heard the Phono stage. But it is rated to be very good. I hope to get a play with this item at some stage.

The Music first passive pre is an interesting piece of kit.

There is a review here.

SCIDB

 

At a group gathering we compared my 3 passives. My DACT/WAD (holco rebuild)/Sowter TVC. The WAD was considered best, marginally edging out my DACT. The Sowter was wierd. Technically it was the best for hifi, it was just that it sounded slow and lost out on the timing of music.

It must be said that they were prototype Sowters and the Stevens & Billington are considered to be better and as used by Thorsten (if that means anything to anyone here)

 

Thorsten Loesch? Can't quite pin him down but I hear his name all over the place. Does reviews at enjoythemusic.com and makes a DIY preamp kit I think.

Michael.

 

Thosten is a prolific poster on DIYAudio aswell

 

He used to write for TNT-audio.com as well.

 

Hi Lee!

Good to see you posting again.

The WAD one I tried was of very good quality, Im not suprised it sounded good.

As ever with this hobby of ours, I guess its down to system matching. NB Im soon to have the CAL through a meridian like u mate!

Chris

 

A nice guy once you get over the overbearing + 'I am always right' + 'short sharp answers and if you don't get it it is your fault' + Germanic attitude.

He has his own Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Thunderstone_audiophile/ and post most places as 'kuei yang wang' and he really is a nice guy, just don't argue with him.

 

Hi,

One reason for the sound quality of the passive transformer that Lee heard could be due to phase shifts & distortions produced by the transformers. This could be a downside to these designs.

Phase shifts & phase distortions are one of the downsides of valve amps. High quality transformer that are well designed & well put together are needed. The Stevens & Billington ones seem to meet the bill.

SCIDB

 

The Music First Audio Passive Magentic Pre I listened to the other day had Stevens & Billington transformers and that did sound superb

 

Let us know what you think of the AS Passion Phono then when you get a chance to have a play with one. I'd be interested to know if I'd be a worthwhile box swap / box reduction exercise in the event that I end up with a power amp set-up and only effectively need a volume control for my t/t (as the CDP might have it's own built-in volume control facilities going straight into the power amp which has two switchable inputs).