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In Reply to: RE: So much confusion posted by waj4all on May 17, 2011 at 12:18:20
This post is to no one in particular. Instead it is an observation of mine over the years of listening with both passive and active preamps.First conclusion I have is that people will state their taste more than anything else. The second point is that the system will dictate how the preamp sounds just as much as the preamp dictates how the system sounds.
After owning and listening with the ARC LS7, Golden Tube Audio Sep-1, CJ Premier 14, VAC Renaissance Signature and Promitheus TVC I can draw the following:
The ARC LS7 - is a lower rung model with good mids but limited highs
Golden Tube - I liked it till the volume control died on me. Fixed it but found better units later on. This preamp did a swell job once I changed the dual triode to a better NOS.
CJ 14 - good everything but still the golden glow.
VAC Ren - better then the previous units at everything, and still a golden glow.
TVC - best at the upper registers. Clear and uncompressed highs. Good at bass. Good at midrange. The only fault is that it didn't bloom like the CJ did nor throw an expansive soundstage like the VAC. Nor did the TVC have the mid/bass bounce and guts of the others till...
...and this is the best part. Till I got it right. Now it has very good mid bass. I just had to tweak my system and find an amp that suits those needs. I cannot go back to the actives with a fine TVC around unless I want to sacrifice detail. I lose too much (much is a relative term so take this as a relative observation) information for the sake of mid bass I now have anyway after tinkering.
Edits: 05/17/11 05/17/11 05/17/11Follow Ups:
Say,
I am glad you brought up the TVC topic in this post. I have the Promitheus Reference C-Core and I am totally happy with the music it makes. It did take me some time to zero in on an amp to match it. But it was worth it. The only sad part is Promitheus does not seems to be well regarded in audio circles (like here, Audiogon and AudioCircle) anymore. This has to do more with the "delivery times" rather than the product itself.
So, I am completely with you in what you say Say - about system matching.
Hey Say,
Now, that's more like it! This is what we were hoping for, genuine feed-back about the issue at hand. Thanks for your input, Say, 'ppreciate it!
But what's your take on what David had to say about the trailing-edges of notes; " ...in my system a passive unit I previously used had greater or equal dynamics to two different tube preamps (Audio Res. LS-7 and a Decware ZTPRE) and had much better leading edge transient attack or impact. The one area where the passive was lagging was in the trailing edge where the sound wasn't as sustained as it was in the actives. "
Thanks for the support of my honest and personal opinion waj4all.
Regarding trailing edges, one thing I did notice and still do is that tubes will do that better than my TVC in comparison. Not that the passive is a slouch in that department but all of my active preamps did have the trailing effect in spades. Here is the kicker, with a decent tube amp the passive will allow trailing edges to flourish. It just won't create more by itself. Thus if a solid state amp is used down goes the trailing edge too.
As for leading edges I would rate the TVC as good but not best. Mabye its the transformers that take a millisecond or too off the timing. I don't really know. Therefore speed will be sacrificed a smidgeon and, thus, sustained decay only when...the amp is poor in that one area.
We have tradeoffs with each. Its down to a matter of choice and synergy one can get with what one has. With the Apogee speakers I can get the TVC (passive) to sing and give a rather good effort in the 0-60 sweepstakes yet even the Golden Tube preamp (active) was no slouch in that department either. The Vac even better.
Say,
I hear ya bro'. Nice system, btw.
Enjoy the music!
WAJ.
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