Amp/Preamp Asylum

Posted by timothywas1@comcast.net (A) on May 06, 2016 at 13:05:58

In Reply to: RE: Passives posted by jrdoe on May 03, 2016 at 18:16:37

Memories into a journey...

Going back some fifteen years ago with limited insights into this preoccupation of ours being fueled along by my never-ending inquisitiveness, I set my sights on some gear to get closer to the musical performances.

My first purchase was a fairly efficient pair of powered Mirage OM6s and Transparent bi-cables, then I added a Plinius sa100mk3 amplifier largely due to its class a power,flexibility and great looks.
Then, onto the next I wanted something with tubes, so it came down to my source or preamp and at the time the Kora Hermes tubed dac was a steal.

The obvious choice for a preamp would be Plinius to maintain house sound.but as things stand my dealer just so happened to have a Adcom gfp 750 clean demo for 600 bucks. Done deal, now say what you will about those of you and your experiences with this class a featured design but I have had nothing but great results in my system and still have it today.

As always system matching or synergy is paramount and that being said it ran really hot with limited use of the volume in active mode, yet it possesed some of the best bass Ive heard to date, I ended up with Rothwell attenuators in active mode which allowed full use of the volume via remote controll, albeit the Rothwells were not the most transparent.

Anyhow ; I swung the Adcom into passive mode hooked up some very short siltech sq 110 interconnects from the Kora hermes to the Adcoms inputs out to the Plinius in class a mode, while the Kora has a 2volt and 5volt switch I switched it to 5volt for more drive.

Perhaps both the Plinis amplifier and Adcom preamplifier both being "direct coupled" and in ballance mode "differential" in design allowed for the beautiful music I was getting or perhaps the input and output impedances were complimenting each other all I know is it was a very beautifully warm dynamic, yet detailed sound with vocals that were in the room.
Perhaps the mosfets in the adcom along with the tubes in the dac conveyed the music who really knows. My point is it "worked"for me in this circuit.

There's many good suggestions from some very knowledgeable inmates like the Placette line or the luminous audio line from both ends of the financial spectrum, terrific inmates here with vast experiances and helpful experiances.Im pleased they're sharing with us parts of their journey.

Best wishes and good luck in yours.

Regards,
/// Tim W. ///