winchester21 Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 The shiny new JM Peach II arrived today. Time to unplug the wonderful Mcintosh c34V pre- (hooked up to the Tubemagic) that I picked for a song back in Jan. Every thing hooked up to the Peach- time for a listen. My initail impression is a a 10-15% improvement over the Mac ss pre. I hooked them up back and forth. Both DEAD quiet with absolutely no hum-buzz- or floor noise. The bass seems to be just slightly better on the Mac. The mids and highs on the Peach with the Tubemagic combo absoultely smoke anything that I have ever heard even at stupid money. The more listened I realized that the Mac is just that *&^( good- not that the Peach was lacking. Maybe I expected more of a difference. Used mac SS preamps- patricular the quiet examples are quite the bargain for the going prices and come very close to the best stuff that I have heard. I scrolled through my collection of favorite CDs- Mark knoffler- Stevie Ray vaughn- Clapton-Jonny lang-and so on.I adjusted the gain/voulme combination to about half on the gain and varoius settings up to 1:00 on the volume. As I listened and adjusted the system seemed to settle into a sweet spot in terms of volume. The Peach is sweet- seamless -and dead quiet . I have heard several mac tube models- 220 ect. I would put this pre up against any of them. And I love Mcintosh. There is not a hint of any type of distortion of any kind in this system up to the pain level in terms of volume. The sound is warm and as the name implies- Juicy. the Tube Magic SEt 300B is an unknown quantity. A low dollar treasue from the garage. I am anxious to try some other amps with this setup. Particulary the VRD NOS from Craig. Also a few other tricks that i have up my sleeve. I fear that I am near the point of diminishing returns. Very little is known about these 300 B tube magic monoblocs from Canada- but- based on some of the reviews, this may be toward the top of the heap. I may have a hard time realizing better results for the money spent. It sounds great- just not enough others for comparison at this point in my limited scope. I suspect it is very serious stuff and will be hard to beat. I intend to find out. This is my first tube amp/pre amp- but I have heard lots of systems. Some in the stupid money catragory. I have just under 5k in all of the 2 ch components that I am listening to at present. This includes the new Peach 2 at screaming retail and a new Jolida Cd at 800.00. IMHO this setup makes a joke out of the 10 k- 20 k 2ch systems that I have heard . It is spooky- heavenly- other worldy- all the terms that you have heard tube systems described as such. Obviously speakers make the big difference but we all pretty much know that drill. Klipsch Heritage. The JM Peach is a must have- gotta buy now- piece if you intend to listen to 2 ch tube sound at this price point. It is everything that you have heard/read about. The real deal. I am pretty much done shopping for preamps. this one works.+ 1 for the Jolida CD as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverSport Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 excellent...time to change that signature...enjoy! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIGARBUM Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Happy for ya man. Glad your getting it all sorted out. I got to git up there soon to heard all that neat stuff. Let you know when my stuff gets here. Check ya later CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.