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In Reply to: How to evaluate preamps? posted by tetsuo on May 10, 2007 at 14:15:05:
Didn't you answer your own question: "All preamps degrade sound". Buy a digital source that is close to meeting the gain needs of your amp; attenuate the rest. No preamp would fit you best.
I don't care for attenuating myself. What I find is that the direct hookup is much too edgy. Add attenuation and you shrink the edgyness, but lose detail. Active preamps can do anything you want. They are not edgy and add detail and smoothness.
My Wadia 301 sounds better running through the preamp (ARC LS17) than when connected directly to the power amp. Also, my Wadia dealer told me that it would sound better through the preamp....and for what it's worth, I did not buy the preamp through this dealer....
My Wadia 302 sound best direct to a tube amp using KT88's. Go figure. :-)
delaney - I have an ARC LS15 -I posted earlier this morning asking if people had hooked up their cdp's to amp and am wondering if I should hook my Mark Lev up to my Solid state or tube (ARC VT100) directly. Your post says it sounds better with the ARC in the chain. Are you using a ss or tube amp with that and what, in your opinion, defines sounds "better"?
thx
jmr
SS -- Pass Labs 250.5. The improvement to me is that the apparent dynamic swing or dynamic range seems greater, with more solidity in the bass, and oh so sweet highs..Let me put it this way, using the ARC-LS17, my system sounds more like real music. W/O the LS-17, the system sounds more digital and lifeless.
thanks delaney - an answer I was looking for.
To follow up on your question about McAlister Audio.
I took delivery of a PP-160 and PL-12 preamp. The two are a lovely sounding combination. However, in building this equipment a number of construction mistakes were made:
1. The screws in the case to the power supply for the amp were drilled in a sloppy manner, some not even holding the case together, while others had been redrilled more than once. (I had the case repaired and mounting pieces were welded in the case.) 2. One of the transformers inside the power supply was flopping around on arrival. The bolts were loose. (The floppy transformer was attached to the case with new bolts and isolated with plastic).
3. The volume and balance pots were not grounded and caused a terrible hum when i touched them. They had been glued to the case because the builder did not take the time to counter sink the holes for the shfts, which could then be grounded with the usul locking nut to the case. The shft on one ws bent. (Chiseled old pots off and bought and installed new (better) pots properly grounded to case. Hum went away).
4. The wrong tube sockets were installed for the power tubes and the tubes wobbled. (Installed new sockets and rewired them of course).
5. The transformer covers on the power amp were put on unevenly with reference to the top of the unit. (Cosmetic only).
6. It was delivered with a bad premp tube. (Threw away)
7. The two units in combination had excessive gain, and the preamp volume was loud with the control at 7 o'clock. (Added dual attenuators)
8. Peter McAlister told me he listened to the amp for a number of hours before he sent it. Surely he would have discovered the hum from the preamp due to improper grounding of the pots.
9. It has cost me over $600 to get all this repaired.
The combo sounds lovely. He hand builds and hand winds his own transformers. Everyone who saw them, said they were beautifully made and rugged.
When the tunes sound more natural....with more swing...more solidity....more sweetness..... Call it what you want, but I call it sounding better.
Define "better". What may look "better" is most likely a coloration.
There is only one objective test for preamps - a by-pass test. The closer a preamp sounds to a direct linked source, the better it is.
But - very often a preamp is needed to compensate weaknesses of a source through added colorations that are considered to be "better".
