Pre Amp under £1000 (Linn Exotic/Musical Fidelity A308cr?)

a contentious point - I dont believe it does.

hopefully the chap can hear one and decide for himself.

 

Just that if you haven't heard efficient speakers (such as Living Voice) and decent valve amps before, it can be quite an eye opener (or ear opener I suppose)

 

The Django is not a traditional passive. It uses transformers instead of resistors. A transformer is a device that can convert AC voltage from one level to another level. It does this by having different ratios of wound copper wire. this is wound round a core. The number of turns the wire is wound will give you an increase or decrease in voltage level.

The transformer also matches the power of the input. Power is voltage x current. This means for a high voltage low current input, you will get a low voltage high current output. The lower voltage will give you the attenuation in sound (reduced volume) and the higher current will give you better driving of the load. (cables & input impedance of power amp).

By building a special transformer with many taps of different number of turns, you can have the volume at many different volume settings.

I use a Django and it is excellent value for money.

SCIDB

 

TVCs use a transformer with multiple taps - resistive pres use a stepped attenuator based on resistors.

I found a TVC had better drive and dynamics than a certain valve pre. Plus much greater clarity without the added colouration.

 

Oh... my internet went down so this was posted very late!

Ali,

A passive pre-amp is one that does not require power. It does not have any amplifier stages and is basically as simple a signal path as you can find. The signal goes through a transformer with many lead-outs from the internal winding at different places, this sets the transformer ratio and in turn, amount of attenuation the signal gets.

Other passive pre-amps use a simple resistive component like a potentiometer or a switch with many set value resistors on it, but in practice the transformer seems to sound much more transparent.

If you pay the extra to have DIY-Hi-Fi construct the pre-amp then it will come ready to rock. It will still need a week or two to run in though, like any new pre-amp.

 

No - it's an "active" pre-amp and uses thermionic valves (which are the glass tubes), rather than transistors or transformers. Here's a (small) pic of the insides: http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/todd27.htm

DT

 

It probably would be a good idea to go for a demo of the music first & minimax pre's at definitive audio to hear the differences. Do you know whether they have good demo facilities bottleneck?.

Would'nt be able to buy the £1500 music first from the store, but id just be going to gain the knowledge as the django is the alternative obviously.


Guess I could say that getting a natural sound is very important for me & this should sway me towards a good passive pre & the django.

My set up has also brightened up somewhat (used to be a problem) since ive started using a mains cleaner fitted to an 8 way plug adaptor, mains filter cables with wattgate to my amp & dac, a deltec bigger bit dac with rf mains noise filter (which I think is a bright sounding dac). My Acoustic Energy AE1 classic speakers used to have to be turned up somewhat to get the best out of them (Think these speaks have very good bass and are good with instruments/guitar music).


Reading up on the minimax im still interested as there's a lot of positives in the reveiws (& it looks the pretty cool). It sounds like it has a slightly more rich sound, but not completely at the expense of neutrality.

 

hi, i have what i think is an excellent pre-amp by M.FIDELITY, x-pre v3 super it is brand new in it's box warrantee of two years selling for £395.00.regards nando.

 

Do you know what sort of upgrade path your looking at on the CD and power amp - and when that might be. What exactly have you currently got and do you you use more than one source or is it just CD.

Depending on your budget (though if your thinking of spending £1000 on a preamp I'm assuming it's pretty large) perhaps you should consider getting a Wadia CD player and bypassing the preamp altogether

If you definitely need a preamp then for your budget a 2nd hand EAR 864 is the best I've heard - not that I've heard many.

 

amazing really - can a topic here anyhow avoid ending either in a TVC debate or an ATC bashing/gloryfing!?

 

The MFA Silver S&B TVC has had a review in this months hifi world - they claim it is the best preamp they have ever heard regardless of price!!

 

Is there?

I didn't see it - best go check

 

Hi Rob,

It will be in the issue that is due out Monday.

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/hfw/currentish.html

People with subscriptions may have it already. It may be in the shops early.

SCIDB

 

They pick out its dynamics and timing as the best available and far better than any active pre

 

Hmmmm......

 

Which tallies with what I heard!!

 

It's at odds with my recollection which was that the TVC sounded sweet, pure and open but lacked the drive and attack of active. PRaT if you like.

I'll be very intereted to see what the patnering power amp is in the review.

Pure passive resistive, TVC and active all have their place and pros/cons. I don't believe that any is inherently superior to the other.

 

According to the review the silver is a long way ahead of the copper - will be interested to hear for myself.

 

Good point, I've only heard the copper ones.
Did old NK whip out his scope and put the beast through the usual tests?

I'm going to give resistive passive another go using some cermet pots. Something Richard Dunn mentioned in another thread reminded of how good they can sound.

 

Other peoples impressions have been that the silver were not as good though. I'd say they are probably just different yet again.

I think the dynamics are great on the copper TVC.

The difference I heard with your pre-amp Rob, was more to do with 'pace'. It sounded like it had a stronger 'internal metronome'.

I theorise that it might be a slight lack of the very very fine details... so when you listen you hear more of the main tune and don't have other little sounds (could be termed as noise) disrupting the flow. It actually sounded a lot like the difference between the MEG's and the PMC's when I heard them together. The PMC's definitely filtered detail out, but it could certainly be a good thing for subjective listening! Maybe you don't want to hear the 'noise' in the background.

On the other hand it could just be a tad more bass heavy.