BenG Posted January 18, 2002 Share Posted January 18, 2002 As you can see my system, does anyone know who John Curl is? What is my weakest link? Im concerned about the PLD1100 pre. After listening to the Audio Research w/ RF7's and my SM70 amp. Here are some specs on it. Dual mono circuit designed by John Curl Direct coupled -- no capacitors in signal path Complementary hand matched MOSFET drive circuit 100% pure Class A circuitry, 44,000 µF power supply filter capacitance Separate glass epoxy circuit boards for each channel Tiffany-style gold plated RCA jacks Motorized volume control with LED indicator Fully remote controlled, including input selection u thanks -benny ------------------ Monarchy Audio SM-70 Onkyo DV-S535 MSB Link III Parasound PLD 1100 KLIPSCH HERESY II AudioQuest Slate/Diamondback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 John Curl was and is a very famous designer of solid state gear. He probably made the biggest splash years ago with his GREAT John Curl Vendetta Phono preamp which magazines like Absolute Sound raved over. It was considered one of the best phono stages around at the time. He also designed one of Mark Levinson's first amps as well. Then Curl sort of dropped under the radar and began contracting with other companies such as Parasound (I think he is still with them). John Curl has done some great work... But his stuff with Parasound was done to meet a certain price point. Although Parasound is good sound for the money, it never really floated my boat. I am sure that preamp is competent. However, you COULD do a lot better these days, and quite possibly for not that much money. I cab tell you one thing, most of the Audio Research preamps are very overrated and not very musical in my opinion. I have always felt their tube gear to be rather sterile sounding compared to other circuits. On the other hand, I would just wait till you got your speakers in and see how they sound with your current gear before making too many changes. The Parasound will do fine for now. Personally, I would opt for a better tube preamp which might mate very nicely with your Monarchy SM-70 Class A amp. When I did have solid state, I always ran a tube preamp, ever since the 80s. It has worked very well and is a good mix. Although I have gone to tubes completely, selling my last solid state piece of gear a while back, I still think the tube pre and ss power amp is not a bad mix. It usually adds a much needed warmth to the mix. I find most solid state preamps to be cold in nature. kh ------------------ Phono Linn LP-12 Vahalla / Linn Basic Plus / Sumiko Blue Point CD Player Rega Planet Preamp Cary Audio SLP-70 w/Phono Modified Amplifier Welborne Labs 2A3 Moondog Monoblocks Cable DIYCable Superlative / Twisted Cross Connect Speaker 1977 Klipsch Cornwall I w/Alnico & Type B Crossover system one online / alternate components / Asylum Listing f>s> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenG Posted January 19, 2002 Author Share Posted January 19, 2002 homeless, Thanks for that information. Do you happen to have a tube pre-amp for sale, or seen one worth the buy? thanks again, -benny ------------------ Monarchy Audio SM-70 Onkyo DV-S535 MSB Link III Parasound PLD 1100 KLIPSCH HERESY II AudioQuest Slate/Diamondback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 19, 2002 Share Posted January 19, 2002 I would listen to your new set-up first, I went with a tube pre-amp with SS power before the tube pre and tube amp route, so I think that combination is the next best thing to tube and tube, the big old horns with really good front-end equipment can outshine many other systems in the realism department, so even if the Parasound sounds good for a very long time, I can see you upgrading at some point ... ------------------ Colin's Music System Cornwall 1s & Klipsch subs; lights out & tubes glowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 hmmmm... I get asked this tube preamp question all the time. Sadly, I did have a good used candidate that I just now sold to a professor in Quebec that is having a custom made 300B SET with special order outputs. I sold him this early 90s CARY SLP-70 w/ Phono (see preamp here : http://www.progressive-engineering.com/sale/cary_slp70_details.htm ). It uses 6SL7 and 6SN7 tubes with 12AX7 in the phono. It was a great little preamp and I think it a good find...if you can find one. How many inputs do you need and what is your price range? Will you ever be going to phono? What is your taste in music? Perhaps I can suggest a few models. kh system one online / alternate components / Asylum Listing f>s> This message has been edited by mobile homeless on 01-20-2002 at 12:52 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenG Posted January 20, 2002 Author Share Posted January 20, 2002 Okay, two inputs shall suffice. 700.00 (i know its not much)im being realistic, single income household. never plan to go with phono. acoustic alchemy, young & rollins (salsa flamenca!) luis miguel, classic soft rock, lite jazz thanks -benny ------------------ Monarchy Audio SM-70 Onkyo DV-S535 MSB Link III Parasound PLD 1100 KLIPSCH HERESY II AudioQuest Slate/Diamondback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenG Posted January 20, 2002 Author Share Posted January 20, 2002 what do you think of the monarchy audio model 33 pre/dac unit? i found one for 500.00 ------------------ Monarchy Audio SM-70 Onkyo DV-S535 MSB Link III Parasound PLD 1100 KLIPSCH HERESY II AudioQuest Slate/Diamondback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 20, 2002 Share Posted January 20, 2002 Based on your selling your othe units, I assume you must have bought the Monarchy. Personally, I would not get this all in one unit for several reasons, namely that it IS all in one. The preamp is such an important position in the chain as it deals with signals atsuch low levels and establishes much of the tone coming down the line. Having the DAC, a highly evolving piece that is the fastest to upgrade built into my preamp does not make for the best of both Worlds. Neither does a preamp that is basically very forward in nature, especially when you are purchasing vintage Klipsch Heresy with horns that are already rather forward sounding. The vintage Klipsch responds so much better to tube equipment, equipment with a liquid midrange and natural, life-like treble overtones with no brightness. A quality tube preamp actually sounds more open and alive, and seems to better reproduce the tone and dimension of the recording. And while housing the DAC in the preamp surely takes care of one pair of interconnects and a chance for signal degradation, it pairs two pieces that I dont think are the best bet for a combination, especially given the Model 33's use of a 20bit DAC. I actually would rather have a better all in one CD player and a good preamp thus saving problems with the Jitter related connection between the drive and the DAC. Also, standard DVD players are not the best sonically when it comes to CD front ends. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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