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

Thats what I heard as well - essentially a simplification of the music a la linn. I thought the phono did the same in the treble as well.

The pmcs lose detail in the crossover interaction if they are not active or triamped.

 

Or coaxial phase aligned... but yes. I can see why many people might prefer it. I guess there is a point when you start retrieving information that was not meant to be retrieved and not strictly part of the music as such.

 

I like that description - Will gladly agree on that.

Mind you, my WAD kit is hardly state of the art.

Another posibility for the timing thing could be the loses inherent with passing a signal through a transformer. I think that transformers can soften leading edges a little.

 

Not sure I understand you there tenson.

Slew limiting giving rise to softening of leading edges should surely be a product of bandwidth. As the tvc has a badwidth of about 100 khz then this shouldnt occur. However as active pres can experience a certain harshness due to transient IMD then it could be simply that this distortion gives rise to a false sense of edge - the absence of this distortion being noted with the tvc?

 

'twas Rob, not me! I agree transient response is a product of bandwidth. I do wonder if there is some sort of 'decay' in an item based on magnetic fields though?

 

Sorry the two parts of my reply were seperate - the first line refers to what you said about the wrong information.

The second part was for rob

 

No idea what might cause it, but the transformers clearly have some influence over the signal as we saw recently with the scope shots. How that translates into what we hear?
Dunno - open to ideas.

My hunch is that the best way to go is a low impedance source (<100 ohms) feeding a stepped attenuator (around (20-50k) into a very high impedance load - >500k.

Something to experiment with

 

What I meant about getting too much information from the recording is like if you start hearing things the musicians / engineers did not intend you to! Things like the noise floor of the recording... hearing the air conditioning and stuff. Even if it is not obvious, it might well sound better on a system that just doesn't dig that deep.

Personally I'd prefer to hear ALL of it because you get all the music too, but I can see why others may not.

 

Tenson: Ah ok got it - yes I agree.

Rob: I doubt any sources go above 100 khz, which is the quoted bandwidth so ringing shouldnt occur in practice...?

 

Will admit that I don't really understand a lot of these later posts in the thread.


A lot of people seem to be in favor of passive pre's.

Someone on the other forum I posted on (pinkfish) said I should go for a Django tvc too, so it seems to be a popular model.

The Django+ model available from the diyhifi store uses silver wiring does'nt it?. Are your models made with copper wiring? (tenson/brizon).

Is it true that passive pre's can be harder to match to a power amp?.


My friend is currently making a gainclone and all going well, this should be what I will do as well in the long term (guess I should have mentioned this earlier).

 

I suggest you read hifi world this month - it has a review of a silver tvc - it states it is the best preamp theyhave ever heard!

TVCs shouldnt have any problem driving a power amp.

 

I quite like the look of the classic django with the knobs, does anyone think it looks a bit more professional than the django+?...

Obviously no remote and the + has more buttons than the classic has knobs?...

 

I think that the recent tests showing ringing were performed using a much lower frequency..... then there are the harmonics to consider
It may not make the slightest difference to the end result, but it is a possibility to consider.

The TVC load on the source is also pretty inductive so some care needs to be taken when matching - they are likely to work better with some sources than others.

I'd like to hear a silver TVC though.

 

The Django+ has silver wiring inside but that is different from the silver S&B transformers we have been talking about here. What we were talking about is a transformer that actually uses silver wire inside it. The Django still uses copper transformers.

The silver transformers are a lot more expensive (there is a lot of wire in a transformer!).

Amp and source matching is easy, just make sure the amp has a high 'input impedance' and the source has a low 'output impedance'. Before you buy, just ask DIY-hi-fi-supply if they think it will match well.

 

The first sign of ringing was at about 50KHz or just below.
Anything with a sampling rate up to 96KHz will be alright. Before 50KHz there was no sign what-so-ever of ringing.

 

Is it true that with valve amps the valves have to be replaced after so many years?

Im looking interestedly at info/pics of the Icon LA4 & Eastern Electric minimax.

Also found a Tube Technology Prophet pre with power supply for £1000 or nearest offer. Are these worth more?.

I don't want to base any decision on looks over sound though & may end up buying a django going on all the positives ive read!.

 

The django is so cheap just try it and then compare with a few other things. I doubt you will find anything at the price (or indeed at any price) that will come close.

 

Small signal valves used in pre amps last for many years unless you leave them on 24/7 and are cheap to replace.

Power amp tubes are a different kettle of fish and typically need replacing every couple of years with average use.

 

Do the minimax & LA4 use the kind of tubes that need replacing often?

 

No idea, but if you hang on a while I'll look at it for you.