Go vintage?

Go vintage?

Posted by mr.bear (A) on July 7, 2012 at 20:23:28

In Reply to: Do I need a preamp? posted by dancingseamonkey on July 6, 2012 at 19:02:43:

You may have see this before- if so, please ignore.

It's just my 2-cents, but if you shop around a bit and you're willing to roll the dice on eBay you can find a vintage preamp with a fine phono section, MC capable, for $200 or less. More versatile and fun than of those little boxes for the same $$. There's something to be said for circuits designed when all there was was vinyl! You don't need to use it as a full-function preamp, just use the phono input and take the output from the main to your *real* preamp so you can use the volume control to trim levels (if its quiet enough). Stick it behind your rack if you don't want to look at the extra knobs.

I am now running a vintage Threshold/Forte Model 2 for my analog section. It has very, very clean sound, adjustable phono gain (enough to readily handle low-output MC's), adjustable loading heavy-duty external power supply, and it's built like a tank with the finest parts - $220. It sounds REALLY good. I also have an old Luxman C-120a with their sweet MC transformers that I bought for $60 on eBay because it had bad 'cosmetics.' Nice warm sound and superb performance from low-output MC's.

There are many other choices. Early Naim NAC's are usually available if you want to spend a little more. My local Naim dealer offered to throw in the MC cards for free with a used preamp- he had a drawer full. It had awesome, solid phono performance IMO. One could hear added solidity from the big power supply. That would be at home with multi-kilobuck components. Get the silly proprietary cables as part of the deal.

Good luck- vintage gear isn't for everybody. The chances of getting 30-year old gear repaired are low. You have to be willing to futz around with it a bit. So think it through and buy wisely

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Do I need a preamp? - dancingseamonkey 19:02:43 07/06/12 (8)

Go vintage? - mr.bear 20:23:28 07/07/12 (0)

RE: Do I need a preamp? - volunteer 19:50:13 07/06/12 (0)

RE: Do I need a preamp? - Bill Way 19:38:51 07/06/12 (5)

RE: Do I need a preamp? - dancingseamonkey 20:10:25 07/06/12 (1)

RE: Do I need a preamp? - Bill Way 12:59:52 07/07/12 (0)

I agree, NAD 712 has no phono section - Time_Stands_Still 19:46:39 07/06/12 (2)

RE: I agree, NAD 712 has no phono section - dancingseamonkey 20:08:15 07/06/12 (1)

RE: I agree, NAD 712 has no phono section - Time_Stands_Still 02:20:08 07/07/12 (0)

Follow Ups

Go vintage? - mr.bear 20:23:28 07/07/12 (0)

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