2. amps-preamps
  3. 1311730684

A bit overwhelmed, need preamp advice

Hello! New Guy here...

I think the pre-amp must be the most challenging component to buy. It's like the master controller and brains of the whole system and I am having a hard time with narrowing my choices down and was looking for some advice.

When I setup my home theater system it was a much easier decision and I ended up with a Proceed AVP-S. Well, I've been selling all my HT gear and want to move back to a simple but very musical two channel setup.

Speakers are Snell B-Minors, my amp is a Bryston 4B-SST, and the front end is a California Audio Labs CL-25 but I am getting rid of the Proceed and the Cal Audio and moving to a RAID1 music server setup that I've built and ripped my 2000 CD's to Flac with exact audio copy.

I need to find a replacement for the Proceed and the only thing that will be connected to the pre-amp is a Musical Fidelity M1DAC.

The Proceed is a little on the dry analytic side, and I was looking for something that would add a bit of warmth, focus and 3 dimensionality and better depth and soundstaging. But not too much warmth and bloom!

One of the challenges is that whatever I get, the bass has to be pretty controlled which is why I got the Bryston. The Snell's have a 12" woofer and the Bryston is able to really take control of it.

My budget is about $1500 usd and I'm looking for some suggestions.

I was thinking of the Rogue Metis Preamplifier with the Magnum upgrades for $1,495.

Or the Placette Passive linestage with the remote for $1595.00

I was hoping I could get some thoughts from folks that have had these and let me know what you thought. The other thing is what are the downsides to a passive linestage? I've heard you give up dynamics for transparency and I'm not sure I can live with that.

I listen to literally all kinds of music so a good soundstage, accuracy, musicality, and dynamic range is important. Sorry for rambling but please chime in if you have any thoughts.

Thanks,

David
davidwjones
lloydelee21
1,202 posts
 
ARC ls 26, CJ 17...you'll have to seach hard at that price, but you might get lucky. good luck!!!!!
emorrisiv
313 posts
 
I have heard the Doge 8 in a very revealing system and it is a giant killer. When used with a first rate SUT the phono section is top notch.
That said, I bought the new "Clarity" Doge 8 and while it is still breaking in I do believe I am hearing a marked improvement over the already excellent "old" Doge 8.
The sound stage seems to be more pin pointed,defined and accurate but without the solid state glare and dryness.It is also very quiet.
Indeed it is very smooth but at the same time exciting with lots of prat and tons of gain. The "Clarity" is more expensive at 1999.00 but I would say it is worth it.
I will be borrowing my friends Ypsilon phono preamp to do A-B comparing with the internal phono section. Not exactly a fair comparison, but still should be fun.
tpsully
10 posts
 
Check out a used Ayre KX5eMP. I've been very happy with mine, detailed, but very smooth. I upgraded from an ARC LS16 and it was a significant upgrade.
dob
577 posts
 
" the bass has to be pretty controlled "

With your budget then the best preamp is Joule-Electra LA-150Mk2, used. Harry Pearson wrote that is has extraordinary bass and gave it some award (Golden Ear?) a few years ago. Not only it has excellent bass - it will match excellently, fantastically with your Bryston power amplifier.

Search on Audiogon, call them and ask for dealers who might have demos or they may have demo. For you , there is no better preamp !
edorr
714 posts
 
In my estimation, if you have a DAC worth $500 used and $1,500 to spend, you are better off selling the DAC and getting a better dac with volume control if you have no need for switching through a preamp.

An asynchronous USB dac with volume control you would get better result in a computer audio only application. The obvious condidate would be the wired4sound dac2. Another option would be a PS audio perfectwave DAC with bridge as music server. I use this myself and recently did a shootout between DAC direct and running it through my $10K Modwright 36.5 LS/PS tube preamp and it was a very close call.
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