Anybody own Audio Experience Symphonies?

the side ones with JAN Phillips - very steady gain, and that Mullard tone. Groove Tubes makes the reissue. It's very easy to find but I hear they are raising their prices. All the wires in the runs are not the same gauge and can be upgraded.

There have been several threads relating the experiences of more high-end solid state guys trying this preamp and not getting it to work. There have been rumors this is b/c of a DC leak. I have talked to several people, along with the maker of the preamp and everyone agrees it is not DC leak. It is the low gain and low RMS of the preamp that has made it not compatible with high-flux solid state gear - they go into safety mode. Recently, this problem was "corrected" which means the overall performance of the preamp has gone down i.e. become more noisy as the RMS was increased via new caps in the power stage to make it more compatible. I would definitely listen to one of the new ones before making a purchase. You will be able to tell b/c it will have different caps - and probably not Black Gates (since they have quit making them) which is what mine has. The reason I say this is because it does not have output capacitors to reject noise with the higher output. I am trying to get up pic's of my virutal system and will post an interior view when I do.

I recently purchased a used Symphonies Plus on AudioGon. I'm running it with a Sonic Frontiers Power One tube amp. I believe my Symphonies was made in 2004. Are you suggesting if I don't have Black Gates caps, that I'm not getting the type of sound I would otherwise? That photo would be great to know what I'm looking for. Do you have a recommendation for a replacement cap?

M, the sound of your Symphonies preamp can be improved substantially with the replacement of 3 pairs of coupling caps and 3 PS 'lytics with Solen/SoniCap 'propylenes. I've done this to 2 and a fellow 'goNist did his. The other fellow said it improved VERY nicely and was well worth the time and trouble. If I remember correctly, the parts cost about $125, but of course that will vary depending on the quality of caps you choose.

E-mail me at jeffreybehr(at)cox(dot)net and I'll send you some pics.
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Listen to Jeff.