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Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: YS-Audio Concerto Preamplifier (Tube) by jkorten

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REVIEW: YS-Audio Concerto Preamplifier (Tube)

12.88.178.37


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Model: Concerto
Category: Preamplifier (Tube)
Suggested Retail Price: $2,500
Description: Phono Stage
Manufacturer URL: YS-Audio
Model Picture: View

Review by jkorten ( A ) on February 08, 2003 at 13:44:19
IP Address: 12.88.178.37
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for the Concerto


Fellow audiophiles should know about the YS-audio Concerto phono stage and Symphonie line stage. These are minimalist designs with directly soldered parts that are awesome performers for the price.

I sent my VTL Ultimate preamp ($3050 in 1987 dollars) in for service and was without for a few months so I saw these being sold on ebay for $450 and $400 respectively. I sent directly to the manufacturer for the same price and he consented. Sort of fell into the impulse purchase range ($850 for a new phon stage and preamp!?!?).

The list price for these is $2,500 and $2,000 which is arguably a worthwhile price in comparison to the current price of my Ultimate preamp. They blow the VTL out of the water (the VTL is dual mono and very spacious sounding).

The rest of my system is a VPI 19MKIII w/SME-V tonearm (Grado XTZ), VTL 300 monoblocks, and CAL Delta/SigmaII and Magnepan IIIa (am I getting old or what?). Interconnects MIT-330 and custom crossovers and spkr cbl (Cardas on high end, Audioquest on low freq).

On first listen, the Concerto and Symphonie shouts at you. But after 20 hours of break in you will be treated to an image that has no boundaries. I listen looking up and ahead now (vs a sort of downward gaze previously). I had NO IDEA CDs could sound so good. I am stunned. I feel cheated that for so many years I've been listening to a crippled system.

Harmonic virtuosity. All instruments sounds are more natural. I hear much more than I've ever heard before. Lots of really realistic sounds. Lots of new sounds - resolution. Could I have just had bad luck with my previous preamp? I am just getting it back from service so I'll compare soon.

The sound is getting better and better each day. I now hear my cables are hurting my sound. I'm in touch with partsconnexion to build myself some Goertz Micro-purl silvers with the new Eichman plugs.

Now the amazing thing is the price. I'm sure this won't last. You should run, not walk to ys-audio and buy these before the reputation catches up with the price.

One problematic thing, which the vendor agrees will be changed in the future, the grounding lug for the phono ground was not properly terminated to the chassis, relying on a friction fit that did not exist on mine. I soldered a wire to the lug internally and on the other end placed an eyelet and placed a star washer over the #8 stud inside the chassis, the eyelet and then another start washer and a nut. YS-audio says they are changing their manufacturing procedures to address this. The chassis is built from aluminium which, if it were steel, might have sounded better. But perhaps not. Who knows (I'm thinking shielding, but maybe the inductive quality of the metal hurts the sound).

Hope you get to enjoy these wonderful sounding preamps. They surely can not be beaten for value.

Regards,

Jerry

PS - I enjoy the distinctively Asian asthetic of the front panel, I hear others don't. It's nice to see something other than black. It's happy and open looking, like the sound.



Product Weakness: Low feature set (no tape monitor, no mute, no tone control) for those not interested in sound alone.
Product Strengths: Build quality, circuit simplicity, sound(!)


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: VTL Monoblock 300
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): VTL Ultimate
Sources (CDP/Turntable): VPI HW19 MKIII
Speakers: Magnepan IIIa
Cables/Interconnects: MIT330, Custom biwire
Music Used (Genre/Selections): all
Room Size (LxWxH): 35 x 12 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: room open at ends
Time Period/Length of Audition: 3 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): biamp, xover mod
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: YS-Audio Concerto Preamplifier (Tube) - jkorten 13:44:19 02/8/03 ( 0)