pre amp

can someone recommend a good pre amp to go with a pair of avi monoblocks...the avi pre amp that I have isnt that good and the wadia 830 use straight into them hasnt got a great pre amp facility according to WM...any suggestions or tested combinations.....

 

What's your budget? Having tried loads over the last year have some experience!
btw I agree with WM that preamps make a difference for the better rather than direct into DACs etc

 

Sheesh, I have been through a fair few pre-amps in my time too so I think I'm just behind Mr Larkrise above in the championship

To be honest my 2 all time favourites are the Aura CA-200 (which is my current pre), getting very rare to find now and a Magnum chrome fronted pre-amp which rarer still and the Magnum fans refuse to believe ever existed but it did cos I had one. Nur nur nur. Both of these have phono stages, balanced connections, remote control and look jolly nice too. After that a Myryad MP-100 had the all above attributes, but just a soupcon behind in top end detail and depth.

I don't rate passive pre's that much but others obviously get excited by them. Having said that, I owned a Van Den Hul Array passive pre for a year and that was a real joy to listen to, although it had no phono stage.

Had 3 Musical Fidelity pre amps and was underwhelmed by them all. Best of the bunch was an A308 but it wasn't a patch on my top 3 faves listed above.

 

Currently have an Audio Research LS15 which I like so much (in my system maybe the best pre I have heard to date) I may well consider getting one of the reference models finances permitting.

I DO like passives - Music First and Bent and if you can find one - an audio synthesis Pro.

I had an Eklipse and liked that a lot but not a patch on the Audio Research. Anubisgrau (Gordan - my mentor) keeps prodding me to try an EAR 864 and I 'd like to hear one.

 

I dont want a valve one and what is a "passive"?....I m after something 2nd hand below £500 quid...how will i know if it marries well with my 2x monoblocks? also what is "btw" still dont get this, but see it all the time.....thanks

 

Do a forum search re passive and stand back!

btw - means Bert's Trousers Washed - but sometimes also means By The Way

TTFN = ta ta for now.

 

I've a couple of passives if you want to borrow one ...but be warned they strip the music back to its fundamentals and often leave nothing to the imagination....

my downside for passives is they lack oomph ...drive energy etc.

 

may take you up on that Z|anash..but what is a passive as compared to a normal pre? and what does a pre add that a passive doesnt? Is a pre amp "false" therefore in its reproduction? (thanks larkrise by the way)

 

Thanks Larkrise BTW

 

oh yes, btw....iget it know.....tvmuavk (thanks very much, you are very kind)

 

so any takers on the above question...whats the diff between passive pre and normal pre? in terms of what they do to the sound......

 

So do passive TVC's also lack oomph ...drive energy etc in your opinion?

jaspal.

 

A passive pre-amp has no active amplification at all, so it takes the 2 volts or thereabouts of signal from the CD player and variably reduces it down to zero to act as a volume control. In terms of sound quality it really does take the signal "warts and all" from the source and delivers it to the power amp. The power amp it's partnered with also has to have matching input gain levels otherwise most won't be driven adequately by a passive pre's output. Some passive pre's have an active gain stage for a phono input.

An active pre has amplification and filter circuity so in theory it can colour the sound and most do so, although not generally in an unpleasant manner.

 

thanks effem...what im finding is that the wadia 830 with the built in passive pre...sounds really good on the most part , but is squealing on vocals.....when i add the normal pre amp the squealing is gone and the vocals more lush, but the other instruments sound bloaty and false.....WM advised that the passive pre that comes with the wadia is not great, but how can that be if it adds nothing to the sound...i still dont get it....thanks

 

Aha, the Wadia 830 CD player doesn't have a passive pre-amp as such built in

It has a very unconventional stepped digital control that doesn't use resistors but a series of bit reductions in the digital domain - don't ask, else we'll be here all night.

WM has just about got it right saying that is should sound better through a conventional active pre-amp, because this is the way I prefer to listen to the Wadia's with a digital volume control, plus of course you cannot input other analogue signals to the Wadia either.

Had a quick scout around ebay and one of my recommended pre-amps (Myryad MP100) is for sale here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/myryad-mp100-...2QQihZ010QQcategoryZ12050QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

banpe - think you should try a good passive from your account.
Try a tvc

ATB

= all the best

 

the wadias one of those !!

Am I right in thinking then your losing part of the music signal as the volume reduces ..or just resolution ?

 

ah but Zanash - I had a DAX Decade - inbuilt passive control - put in a preamp and it was passive preamp too . . . it sounded better, much to David Heaton's intrigue (and mine)

 

try a Bel Canto DAC3.... its possibly the most transparent preamp ive ever heard. Upon blind listening, myself and two others were unable to tell when it had been inserted into a system that could be run from dac to power amp.

There was absolutely no audible downside from having this bit of kit in place, and id defy anyone to actually be able to tell it was in circuit.

A few reviews have indicated similar opinions, and one chap went as far as to compare it to a passive design (but with gain)

I cant fault the BC kit at all.

 

I'd seriously consider the 'cheap' lfd preamp curently in the classifieds - I'm tempted myself! I've no connection with the seller btw