Deang

I wanna be smart like mdeneen and mobile. I'm looking for a tubed preamp for $700 or less to run with my Bryston SS amp. My list so far is the CJ pv10al and the Quicksilver. I was figuring that either of these might be more musical than the Anthem Pre1L I just sold. I guess nothings for certain. ------------------ deanG

I've spent the better part of the afternoon and early evening checking out tubed preamps. Something that is really confusing to me is how you can have something like a CJ pv10al that only uses two 12au7's, or a Quicksilver that only used two 12ax7's - and then see a BAT 3 vk3i that has 4 6922's and 2 6v6's!! What's up with that!!? I mean - they're all line stage preamps. Shouldn't the simpler circuits sound better? Yet people rave about the BAT stuff. ------------------ deanG

Audio Flynn said: "Even at low volumes the transients were more pronounced" It's really the truth and is especially noticable watching movies. This message has been edited by deang on 02-10-2002 at 02:09 PM

So jethro - what happened to your DQ10's? What prompted you to make a change? ------------------ deanG

Wives are people too. Mine puts up with me well enough - she's a real sport about it. My real problem in the past was getting dedicated time on the system without everyone making me nuts. I decided the best solution was to move everything out of the living room into our bedroom upstairs. Now I can listen and play in peace! ------------------ deanG

if you build it they will run ------------------ deanG

Speaking of Creek Audio. One would think folks here would be big fans of their integrated units with passive preamps and MOSFETs - but I don't recall ever hearing them mentioned here. About every couple of months I'm tempted to try one out. ------------------ deanG

nice to see you back tom - you been missing some fun now i must say - surely Heritage is a notch or two above whirlpool ------------------ deanG

No problem and you are absolutely right. ------------------ deanG

Crash - before you throw any cash down you probably should try to hear some of the bigger Heritage stuff or some Legends. That way you can make more of an informed choice. I have my idea of the 'ideal sound' and I would have to say that the RF7's come closer to that ideal than Heritage. However, everybody else has their own idea of that 'ideal sound' and it's not the same as mine. As a matter fact - I'm outnumbered on this board 10 to 1. Jethro - My friend Mark has had DQ10's for over 20 years. During that same time period I had Advents, powered Advents, AR11's powered by a GAS Ampzilla amp and Thalia preamp, and then Magnepan 1.5QR's driven by my Luxman amp and Athem preamp and CDP. Where I was always chasing refinement and detail - Mark was always pacified by the DQ10's. The DQ10 certainly throws a huge soundstage and is one of the best overall sounding speakers ever made. However, they are not that transparent sounding compared to some other offerings and they do tend to sound a little shrill at the higher SPL's - of course, Mark thinks they sound great even when they are begging for mercy. When I first got my RB5's, running them with a Boston PV1000 - I really felt it gave me 80% of the Magnepans transparency and over the top dynamics that blew the DQ10's away. It was the first time I heard a system that I thought sounded better than DQ10's all the way around. Mark agreed it sounded great but really likes the DQ's throw sound everywhere approach. Well, when I decided to trade the RC7's in on the RF7's I have now - Mark decided to ****** up those RC7's and is running them with two Boston PV1000's. He loves the sound but can't get used to the directional imaging. He's running the system with an original Adcom GFA-555 and a Toshiba DVD player and so you can say that the Klipsch aren't playing at their best. I just can't convince Mark that the upgrades really make a difference. He is caving a little however and seriously considering a CD player. So what about those DQ's? Well, Mark wants to set them back up and so I talked him into buying the upgrade kit from Regnar and changing out the caps. He then picked up two more GFA-555's off of AudiogoN to bridge in mono for them. I wanted him to buy a slightly used GFA-5802 or Bryston but he wouldn't go for it. He just loves those 555's. After listening to those RC7's for a month or more - I think what Mark is going to find when he rolls his DQ's back out is that yes - they really do throw a nice soundstage, but they also sound compressed, a little dull, and more like speakers playing recorded music. ------------------ deanG

what Chickey said ------------------ deanG

huh...Colin...I think he's already doing the SET thang. ------------------ deanG

What is the consensus here on the board regarding passive preamps? I remember Mobile saying something about them here recently but I can't find the thread. ------------------ deanG

1. Speaker upgrade 2. Preamp upgrade 3. CD player upgrade 4. Amp upgrade 5. Cables ------------------ deanG

my cable is better than your cable oops - wrong thread ------------------ deanG

LOL, you can relax Jazman - yes, I was playing up to that 'other' thread where I was smacked around in grand style by the Heritage brotherhood I am well aware of what many here feel about those beasts and was really just helping out my my distant family members by letting them all know of a good deal on speakers I know they love. My jesting is strictly in fun. ------------------ deanG

just think, for only $1000 more he could have had RF7's ------------------ deanG

I was in cable hell for two years I will never give up my MIT's ------------------ deanG

if you don't buy the RF7's you will end up hanging yourself nuff said ------------------ deanG

Just stay with your MIT's. I sure like mine. The network in the box is not in the signal path - it is parallel to it. Read the MIT white paper at www.mitcables.com No need to spend money on new cables - spend it elsewhere. ------------------ deanG

..for $850 They are in Austin TX. http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrfull&1018141186&class&3&4& ------------------ deanG

kewl ------------------ deanG

It is true though that the system sounds more 'tubie' with a tube preamp/SS amp combo than with a SS preamp/tube amp combo. I find that odd. ------------------ deanG

Be careful Max What someone else likes may not be what you like This whole thing is very subjective ------------------ deanG

It really comes down to listening tastes. I was actually listening tonight and thinking how well that Bryston preamp matched to the Amp1. ------------------ deanG