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In Reply to: Good for him, the rascal. posted by Poindexter on July 22, 2006 at 16:32:07:
Why did they sell so many if they were so bad? I don't own one nor have I ever heard one but there are many posts that mention them as the pre they use, possibly because they want to improve them. Others say they love that pre and recommed it.
Follow Ups:
I don't know why things do or do not sell. I wish I did. The PV-10 was never highly considered around here. Hazy, lo-rez, flat sounding, and a little noisy. Guys gave them away as a deal sweetener.
They are not for everyone, but I had heard many speakers, and many amplifiers and many preamplifiers including Audio Research, Tandberg, Amber, etc. and cables before I came across a Conrad Johnson PV-10 / Sumo Amplifer / Martin Logan speaker combination and I realised just how much sheer pleasure could be had by listening to reproduced music.While the PV-10 IS a budget product, despite the copious poly caps, sealed Alps volume control, and very high quality resistors used throughout. But in the world of tubes, I would honestly rather have a PV-10 than any Audio Research preamp. I think AR products are made with top notch parts, and incredible attention to detail. I just have never heard one that would make me give up a CJ preamp. So, I'm surprised that some one considers a PV-10 the "least of preamps". I think it's just a matter of personal taste. Probably not happy with the euphoric presentation.
no problem. I pay for my audio equipment, so I make my ears happy. I hope everyone else does the same.
The PV-10 can be a giant killer. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, but I'd prefer a PV-10 over many much more expensive preamps, particularly those solid state ones.
Just my 2 pennies, YMMV.
I just was remembering my experience with the stock ones. I think the other 'philes who heard them around here felt the same. A couple of the other CJ preamps were very well liked; PV-11, and PV-8 if memory serves. Those I didn't hear.Lots of pieces are moddable to vast improvement, I agree. In retrospect, the 'sound' I heard in the PV-10 could have just been indifferent capacitors and stuff.
is a simple circuit: a voltage amp triode directly coupled to a cathode follower. It is basically the same circuit as a PV-11, PV-12, PV-8, and many other designs which abound.
I remember some of the guys on Maui who ran the PV-10, and many were, well, rather insular in their attempt to coax better sound out of the unit (not you, of course, but a couple of guys I know who hung out at Maui Audio). Many had fixed ideas of what constituted better sound also, and one guy I knew liked a very (to me) tubey, old school type sound. Still, as you are well aware of, different tubes, different coupling caps all can make significant changes to sound (I believe early PV-10's ran Solen caps for coupling, not my favorite for clarity). That changed over the years, but very few manufacturers will run the best available caps in a baseline model, but I am sure you know that also.
There is very little that's new under the sun for tube gear.....
Again, YMMV.
I actually only ever heard two or three of them. All were as I described, at least to my ear, but that's hardly a rigorous data sample. The one I remember best was traded to me as a deal sweetener, and I traded it off the same way.Maybe it was broke; had a noisy cap or something in it, a funky tube. My apologies for a hasty judgement - I hate it when I do that, especially when it means that I come out here in front of my peers and bitch and whine. I now see that there are a lot of experienced ears here who really like this piece. I may very well, argh, whimper, have been, groan, moan, squirm, wrong .
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