Bubo Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I am up to my eye-balls in amps, and I am now experimenting with various pre-amps. So far, the Vintage Yamaha's are pretty darn good. Soon, I will be experimenting with using my Pioneer HTS as the pre-amp fronting 3 Class A Yamaha amps. Emotiva has on paper a pretty good modern pre-amp, is there anything else near it in this price performance range. I may pick up a mint used to put it side by side with my Mac and Yamaha and have a bake off. Having said that, transparent should be transparent? Any suggestions on FAVs both modern and vintage (Yamaha)? I will be running the pre-amps through Mac and Yamaha amps and driving my La Scalas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkalsi Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I can't say I've tried many - but I can honestly say that Juicy Music Merlin was one of my favorite preamps (I liked it more than its bigger brothers: The Peach & Blueberry). Too bad they never come up for sale! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I can honestly say that Juicy Music Merlin was one of my favorite preamps (I liked it more than its bigger brothers: The Peach & Blueberry). I can agree with that 100% Too bad they never come up for sale! I wonder why? [] You just can't use it with a bunch of SS amps. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Buy American! At this time I have the folloing three: Conrad Johnson PV10B upgraded to PV12 technology by CJ Audio Research SP-14 stock Hafler stock I take a long time to listen to a new component before passing judgement. The Hafler I bought as a reasonable back up. The CJ I have been running for over 3 years. PV10B has a slightly warm phono section, deep soundstage and excellent attack / decay. SP-14 I have had for about 10 months. It is not as clinical as my JM Blueberry that I had for several years was with digital sources. Great digital sounds great on most systems. Poor digital software does not sound as good as the CJ when played through the SP-14. I have not listened to enogh vinyl on the SP-14 to make a final judgement. JM BB was excellent on phono. PV10B has more bass weight than the SP-14 but the SP-14 needs a to trip to NOS Valves for new caps in a few areas to be a fair comparrison. My favorite besides the PV10B was a HH Scott LC-21 or 130 vintage preamp. Most vintage tube preamps are bloomy. Scotts were the best of the early 1960s. SP-14 is a hybrid tube preamp and has a differnt sonic character than an all tube preamp. I like the SP-14 allot but need more time with the phono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhound Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I have a Juicy Music Peach...it's a fantastic pre amp if you can find anything Juicy Music GET IT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I liked it more than its bigger brothers: The Peach & Blueberry I like my Merlin better as well. The BBX got sold, and I will keep the Merlin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vital Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Emotiva has on paper a pretty good modern pre-amp, is there anything else near it in this price performance range. I may pick up a mint used to put it side by side with my Mac and Yamaha and have a bake off.I have the USP preamp from Emotiva, it sounds really nice, it's a lot cleaner and clearer than the UMC I have but as far as preamps go I don't know how it stacks up. This is the only preamp I've owned so far lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHoman Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I love my Juicy Music Blueberry Extreme with Cream! Find you some Juicy Music! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik2A3 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid; the Dynaco PAT 4 (a NOS kit I recently built) and best of all - no preamp. Had a chnce to hear the JM Peach years ago and liked it also very much indeed. Would have preferred chassis mount inputs and outputs, but one constantly has to make compromises here and there. Build quality was otherwise very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 George wright wla12a, Juicy music merlIn, Slagle AVC intactaudio.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyhawg Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I can't say I've tried many - but I can honestly say that Juicy Music Merlin was one of my favorite preamps (I liked it more than its bigger brothers: The Peach & Blueberry). Too bad they never come up for sale! I have been looking for one for a while now. I am looking to upgrade my preamp, but I cannot find any JM products out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I haven't tried that many different units before... but I am reasonably happy with my Emotiva USP. I think it's doing a fairly good job so far and I don't think I will be changing to another unit very soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I have had only a few preamps, but the SUMO Electra is my favorite. It also has the L, R, L+R (mono) input modes that are rare today. One little caveat, no headphone jack! I asked James Bongiorno (sp?) (the designer) why, and he said it would have cost extra. In truth, I have not used headphones at home in many years, so no diff to me. BTW, there is a very active "SUMO/GAS/Ampzilla/SAE" Yahoo group, which I how I got it touch with Mr. B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbone Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I liked the Mcintosh C2200. But I now have integrated amps. If i go back to separates I will probably get the Mcintosh C2300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I must have a lots of switching options and tone controls so that limits my choices, especially now with purists in vogue. I love the marantz 7 and 7T, the older Mcintosh preamps, I guess I love almost any full features preamp from the 1950s-1970s. But my holy grail? A Luxman C5000a, a true gem from the end of the golden age of audio. warm regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik2A3 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 As someone who loves vintage equipment, I can't help but mention the Lexicon DC-1 DSP I bought years ago, modified by Shawn Fogg for multi-channel SACD use. Even as a stand-alone two channel preamp it's transparency leaves many other designs wanting -- of course just in terms of what I like to hear and for its seemingly never ending flexibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Personally, I still love my Audio Research SP6-B (or SP6-A). Without a doubt it has a certain coloration, but it's a good coloration, especially with phono/LP. Very "musical" (I really hate using those kind of subjective adjectives). I really don't care for the older 70's/80's solid state McIntosh. To me they've always sounded dark, opaque and dull. While Yamaha has made some nice stuff, very excellent tuners in particular (T1 & T2), IMHO, their preamps are not in the same league as the likes of vintage Audio Research, Dynaco PAS, Fisher and Marantz 7c, etc. But then again, neither are their prices [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 But my holy grail? A Luxman C5000a, a true gem from the end of the golden age of audio. warm regards, tony Right on Tony! I was going to mention that one too but I see you beat me to it. I love my Luxman MB3045 monoblocks. Haven't used them in while as they need the power supply caps replaced, just for saftey sake if nothing else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I still like my Mac C33, a veritable Swiss Army knife of a pre. If only it weren't blowing fuses right now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmvette Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 After trying quite a few, I like my Juicy Music Blueberry the best. It's equally great in front of a tube amp, or a SS amp; and has an awesome phono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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