Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: SM Brown Amplifier Co. Caravaggio Phono Preamp by amioutaline?

Model:	Caravaggio
Category:	Phono Preamp
Suggested Retail Price:	$895.00
Description:	Passive RIAA, Shunt-Regulated, Moving Magnet Phono Pre-amp
Manufacturer URL:	SM Brown Amplifier Co.
Model Picture:	View

Review by amioutaline? on March 16, 2011 at 13:06:06
IP Address: 75.143.234.254 Add Your Review
for the Caravaggio

Should a friend tout a friends creation? Maybe not, but I can't resist. The Caravaggio is so fine I'll risk it. Besides, a few people have e-mailed me for info from the few hints I've dropped here and this expands a bit on my replies.

Just be aware that Steve and I have been close friends for years and maintain our relationship even tho' we both have moved far away from each other. He's one of those guys that was repairing the neighbors TV when he was a teenager and hails from Portland, Oregon which is a hub of tube madness. Gary Pimm was a neighbor.

Many of you know him from his posts here, mainly at Tube DIY but also at Magnequest and other Forums. Over the years he's built various amps and pre-amps to order for other friends and we each built a 45 amp, side-by-side at his bench over a few weekends a sort of Master Class in tube electronics.

I had been using the execllent and oh-so-flexible Musical Surroundings Nova Phonomena along with Jim Hagermans Cornet 2 for quite awhile interspersed with using the phono stage of a CAT SL-1, the Aqvox and a Sakura 4718. The Caravaggio, which I had the honor of naming, exceeds all the above by a wide margin. Each has it's strengths along with at least one weakness. The Cornet is dynamic with nice bass weight but comparisons show it lacks the ability to unravel dense musical texture. The Aqvox, only when used balanced, is the quietest component I ever encountered but the detail it reveals from that background can be fatiguing. The CAT was the Gold Standard of the 1980s but falls far short of todays best. The Sakura really excelled with the same companys McBee cartridge but failed to impress with my Dynavector and Benz AceL.

When Steve sent me the prototype, I knew immediately this was the best I'd ever heard. In fact, I sold my Nova Phonomena and held the prototype for ransom. Like a fool, I succumbed to Steve's argument that the prototype was too ugly to keep and he would build me one with a fancy face-plate. How dumb was that? I sent him the unit and a buncha money!

Caravaggio has bass weight, separates the instruments in just the right proportions (none of the false air that sounds like reverb), has a mid-range that conveys the timbre of Oboe as well as the Les Paul Gibson, and the upper reaches of the treble either bray, tinkle, shimmer or glow as called for by the music.

This is not a romantic, tubey component and at first, apart from the apparent virtues, I thought it might be a bit harsh in the upper mid-range, most noticeably on the airy upper reaches of Joni Mitchell's voice on "Blue". As the tubes, caps and resistors cooked, however, the harshness abated and I heard, for the first time, the character of the different recording studios of the songs on that albums excellent re-issue.

My system isn't really set up for large scale classical, the pre-amp is passive and the amplifier single-ended 6 watts; the Barbirolli Sibelius Symphony #2 on Chesky, however, credibly creates an impression of the power, if not the size, of the orchestra. The way the brass and reed sections of a Count Basie record fill the room, tho', that you have to hear!

All you can do right now is e-mail Steve Brown through the Asylum, there's no website.

Product Weakness:	It takes 6 weeks to order one.
Product Strengths:	As above, tone, texture and imaging

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: 6 watt SE 6CA7 DIY Amp
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Passive DIY Attenuator and switch
Sources (CDP/Turntable): VPI HW-19 MK IV and a few mods
Speakers: 4Pi
Cables/Interconnects: White Lightning except Cardas 4x24 DIY phono cable
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Big Band Jazz, Classical, Classic Rock
Room Size (LxWxH): 12 x 15 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Ethan Winer insprired panels
Time Period/Length of Audition: 12 months
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	6 watt SE 6CA7 DIY Amp
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Passive DIY Attenuator and switch
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	VPI HW-19 MK IV and a few mods
Speakers:	4Pi
Cables/Interconnects:	White Lightning except Cardas 4x24 DIY phono cable
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Big Band Jazz, Classical, Classic Rock
Room Size (LxWxH):	12 x 15 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	Ethan Winer insprired panels
Time Period/Length of Audition:	12 months
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner