Posted by CWizard (i) on January 09, 2001 at 06:15:09:

In Reply to: What should I do? posted by Rolf@grid.net on January 08, 2001 at 13:12:07:

I bought an AE-3 in Sept. (assembled) to compare with my friends heavily modified FP. The results, which were written up by my buddy can be found at:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/bottlehead/messages/11509.html

The only upgrade to the AE-3 was the pair of Philips JAN 6SN7's that AES sells. The AE-3 was burned in for a week before comparing (it's really harsh sounding out of the box). The FP was at around $600 in parts as tested, so it definitely wasn't stock. But the AE-3 was only $100 cheaper as evaluated if bought as a kit ($399/kit & $100/tube upgrade). The FP had goodies like Hovland caps, dual stepped attenuators using caddock resistors, etc. Do this to the AE-3 and you're getting close to a $1K preamp. Point is, on a dollar for dollar basis, I think this was a relatively fair comparison.

The AE-3 is back in Cary, NC and Chuck (bless him) built me a FP which puts a smile on my face at least once every day.

By the way, the AE-3 was not in any way a bad sounding preamp. I thought it was very nice for the money and way better than my old SS job. It's just that the FP (with Chuck's mods) was that much better.

Hope this helps.

Mike