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RE: A Line Stage Preamplifier Issue

I would suggest just dumping the Conqueror. A friend of mine had it and we were incredibly disappointed with the sound and upon taking off the cover, the puny output transformer. One of ANs worst amps, IMO. Go look at something like a JJ 322, which has huge double "C" cores (the whole amp weighs a whopping 42kg and that is with a mostly wood chassis!) and true dual mono construction (two power transformers).

A more interesting 8-10 watt amp from AN (UK) is the Oto SE Signature, which has large double "C" core iron. For the other series, you won't get that until you get to Quest silver signature or Meishu Silver and both cost a whole lot more money. I may actually try out an Oto SE Sig soon. I would not try the non-signature version though.

There is a passive that works well, the Axiom or Axiom II from Luminous Audio technology. It is a simple shunt volume control with a really good resistor in the signal path and the potentiometer in the ground shunt. With sufficient signal it loses very little and adds nothing.

I am also battling with active preamps at the moment trying to decide between three of them. The first is the Audion Silver Night Premier 1.0, the second the Pure Sound L10 and the third a Silvaweld SWC450. The Pure Sound is transformer coupled and makes for interesting sound with very palpable images and soundstage but is perhaps the least transparent of the three (it is still very good though in that sense). It has great drive and propulsion as well as powerful and textured bass. The Audion is very transparent, precise with the images and has a nicely defined soundstage. It is a bit thinner int he upper bass and not quite as palpable. The Silvaweld is perhaps slightly more "golden" colored that the other two but it is so resolving and balanced that it might end up the winner...the jury is still out.

AN gear is definitely musical and hooks people but the more I hear it and the more I read people's listening experiences the more convinced it is quite colored and 'voiced' in a particular way...especially the 300B amps at the lower end of the spectrum.


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  • RE: A Line Stage Preamplifier Issue - morricab 13:27:42 07/05/15 (0)

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