Best Full-Function Preamplifier

@vinylshadow — Excellent! I look forward to reading about your impressions of the Allegri. 

I have also been intrigued by the Townshend seismic isolation platforms for my speakers, but they are too expensive to buy without trying. I wish for a demo pair!

 

Cheers

@patrickdowns: Watch USAM for a set of used Townshend Audio Seismic Podiums or Bars, they come up for sale pretty regularly.

For a cheaper alternative, if your speakers have narrow enclosures with a base that extends out in all directions (front-to-back and side-to-side)---or bases that are "outriggers", you can use sets of Seismic Pods instead. The Pods may simply be placed at each corner of the base, or even bolted onto the speaker base or outrigger, in the holes provided for the stock spikes. The Pods are far cheaper than the Podiums and Bars, and equally effective, assuming the speaker base or outrigger is big enough. 

@patrickdowns A high end cable maker I recommended them to bought a pair of Seismic platforms for his expensive speakers. This gentleman has exquisite ears. He has to as a cable maker.

He was floored by the difference the podiums made. He wrote me that the podiums were like an equipment upgrade that took his system to an audiophile level...I’m not being hyperbolic. He was incredulous.

If you can, I would save up and buy a pair. But using Pods would likely work. Perhaps not as stable. Maybe not as much 3D pivoting. Not sure...I bought a Seismic platter for my turntable, Seismic Isolation Corners for my heavy rack and pods for my sub, amps and every piece of equipment. F-1 Fractal speaker cables and interconnects & digital cables as well. I’m Townshended out! I had an offer to talk to Max in the early part of December 2021 and I unfortunately declined and he passed away at the end of December. A genius he was.

@vinylshadow ​​​, THANK YOU again. That is good information. Part of my hesitation on the seismic podiums is I’ve been thinking about switching to the next model up in the Vandersteen line, and they have a different shape and footprint dimensions, so if I got podiums that fit one they may not fit the other. (Oh, and need more money!)

 

https://www.townshendaudio.com/hi-fi-home-cinema-equipment-vibration-isolation/hi-fi-home-cinema-vibration-isolation-speaker-podiums/

If separates are OK, I’d recommend Coincident Technology. You could get both a killer linestage and phono preamp within your budget.

I have his Dynamo 34SE MKIII amp. Incredible quality for the price. I did look at his preamp but I am still very happy with my Don Sachs linestage.

Check out the reviews, or better yet, try for an in-home audition. Israel Blume is a very honest and accommodating kind of guy. 

His website is Here.

May I suggest the new Accuphase C-2300 preamp? It is fully balanced input to output, has a tape monitor/processor loop, four band tone controls and a loudness control that switches in/out, has different levels of gain, and can be had with an AD-60 mc/mm phono board for a list price of approximately US $16.5K?

You can read about the C-2300 here.

The US importer, Axiss Audio, has had a recent infusion of talent and capital. Axiss have lowered US prices, making them much more competitive with the rest of the world. 

Fast freight+1

At this price point the Mola-Mola Makua should be considered.  Reference quality phono stage + preamp is around $16,000 msrp new.  Optional  Stereophile class a rated DAC (identical to Tambaqui standalone) adds around $8000.  Contact Bill at GTT Audio in NJ and he will arrange an audition either at his place or send one to your home.

I have been enjoying my Makua for a year and it has taken my system to a level that I could never have imagined. Paired with Clearaudio Ovation / Tracer / Hana vinyl rig.  Classe Audio amplification and ProAc speakers.  
 

note that the Makua will reveal as much detail as your system allows so attention should also be paid to power, cabling and isolation. I am using all Nordost Valhalla level including QBase and QKore and cat m12 ethernet switch.  At this level, everything matters.  
 

also, I believe there is a fully outfitted demo unit available with DAC and phono stage for upper teens and a used one with phono and no DAC (can be added later by sending in unit) air well under $10k. But I would strongly suggest starting with GTT.  Bill is an exceptional dealer with fantastic customer support.

enjoy!

mola-mola.nl

I have previously owned the Macintosh C-2300 and C-50. both had excellent phono preamplifiers. They accommodated both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges. Loading could be adjusted from the listening position with the remote. The 2300 did not have a Dac built in, which was part of its charm. The C 50 had a decent DAC as well. Newer models like the C 2700 and C 53 have even better digital to analog converter’s. My best full-service preamplifier has been the Aesthetix Janus. it is away at Aesthetix being upgraded to the signature version. I am very much looking forward to getting it back.

Depends on your other equipment but the Pass XP-32 is my current favorite.  Pair that up with a good $2k phono amp and you are set.  

The Sutherland N1 preamplifier is the pinnacle of a full function preamplifier. They occasionally appear on the used market.  As its name implies: "all-in-one." 

@dodgealum 

Re: Accuphase C-2300. It has a full function remote control. 

Essential, Accuphase, Atmashpere, all good choices, great choices actually. 

I would advise you to look at the Supratek web site. I have what some would consider pretty close to a reference rig and use a Supratek preamp. 

If you need all in one...

Save some money and look for a Doshi V2.1 or an Audio Note M5 phono.

Separate units you can go Coincident Technology.  If you need a remote then a top tier unit may be out of the question.

EAR 912 is excellent. Seconded observation (possibly in my future). Very  spacious, open sound and excellent phono stage. Not too many tubes (Atmosphere using 16 tubes, mid-spec Mullard AT7s-that’s expensive and how many hours do they last in it, in an EAR 912-10,000 hours probably, very long time).

@dentdog May I ask which Supratek preamp you are using and which amp you have mated it with? I am waiting on my Supratek Grange Signature to be built currently...

Like I said...

Accuphase was mentioned above. Unfortunately they dropped excellent 2400 series. Thus I recommend to get on used market and purchase their previous model - C-2450 with AD-2900 phono plugin. Currently made C-2300 model is lower range unit, and C-2900 is much more expensive and lack tone controls. Import it directly from Japan to get reasonable price.

 

My unit is technically a Chardonnay, having wanted a 6SN7 unit. I did however request  upgrading all the essential parts to max it out. Added about 1K to the stock price. Had it built specifically match a pair of Audiopax M 100s and due to the low 18db gain of the amps, and the high input voltage required  2.5 V, Mick was all to happy to match me up.

Also Mick has a go to repair guy who loves in the states. Believe his name is Slade, could be mistaken.

The McIntosh C49 is a very capable preamp with excellent and wide parameter separate MM and MC phono inputs and an upgradeable DAC. You even get tone controls that are digital and by-passable, so no pots or switches in the music stream. All of the inputs, 7 analog and 6 digital, are programmable for the actual name of the connected device and you choose the order that they appear in. All of the info appears on a McIntosh blue dot matrix display. Check it out here C49.

 

Dear @dodgealum  and analog friends: I think that this thread is really more important that what we could think and this is my " understanding " about:

 

Why? because we invest money and a lot of time to fine tunning each one of us analog rig: TT/Tonearm/cartridge overall set up trying to achieve top overall MUSIC reproduction enjoyment and if we really want to achieve that top MUSIC enjoymentt we have ( a must to. ) to be extremely carefully what to do with that cartridge - signal to preserve its whole INTEGRITY  and the very first step is to choose the " rigth " phono stage and line stage that permits that kind of achivement.

Not an easy task and certainly not with separates units for several reasons as the ones that posted lew and atmas. Of course that after the whole cartridge signal process inside phono/line stages room/amps/speakers/cables is the second step but this issue is not for this thread.

To preserve the cartridge signal and everything the same that signal needs to pass not only through the different circuit stages ( gain, RIAA and again " gain "  ) but through short circuit layout paths  and these single reasons could be the foundation why we need a full-fuction preamp.

Now, any pono manufacturer/designer knows the very hard task in the phono stage design when is need it to has a gain that could goes up to over 8K times the very LOMC cartridge level and that high gain must be do it with very low noise/distortions.

This high gain/low noise task combination is a true nigthmare where that cartridge integrity could be severly damaged because you can't do it using only one circuit gain step ( designer choices are passive gain or active high gain. I am for active high gain.) and because that very low level audio signal is surrounded my several internal/external contamination sources ( EMF, RF, etc, etc., active parts, transformers, etc, etc ) but this is only one of the main targets of any phono stage the other is that the cartridge signal must pass through that " terrible Himalaya " named inverse RIAA eq. that means an equalization around from -20db to +20db from 20hz to 20khz ( it's not exactly that but only to have an idea. ) and when that valuable and sensible cartridge signal pass through that RIAA whole process not only must pass with added/losted noise/distortions at MINIMUM but with almost NO Frequency Response deviation: this is that response must be flat from 20hz-20khz that's imposible to achieve it in the analog domain.

Best phono stages are around 0.05db to 0.1db FR deviation. This could makes a difference on the quality level? sure makes a differences because the RIAA is a curve and any deviation at any single discrete frequency affects almost 2 octaves and this means higher colorations to that cartridge signal.

Now, suppose that the cartridge signal comes out with MINIMUM added/losted " distortions " ( something ideal. ) now that signal needs more gain level for the amplifiers can hadled that " original " cartridge signal and this main overall third step in the full-function preamp even that's a little more easy than the past 2 main steps it's and has the same critical importance because inside this line stage the signal needs more gain with low noise and not " added/losted " colorations/distortions.

As in the 2 first steps here in the line stage the preamp design must be first rate and nothing less than that. Phono and line stage have the same critical importance to achieve the final target in our room/system: MUSIC TOP QUALITY ENJOYMENT.

 

Last step but not least is the external Power Supply that must be top design too to " send " clean, low noise, no contaminated with true high overload levels electrical supply to the different preamp stages.

As the other preamp stages here exist different challenges for the manufacturer/designer. The 3180  Power Supply comes with the main power cord input and 3 other inputs that are the umblical ones: 1 for the left channel, 1 for the rigth channel and the third one for the logic control circuit card/stage. We try to don't let nothing at " random " and that's why the unit can't be overloaded under any play " scenario ".

 

Inside different price ranges in the audio market no two preamps sounds similar due that designers choices were/are differents  not only in active/pasive parts,  circuit boards layouts, way of tests over the preamp, but the choosed trade-offs ( nothing is perfect. ) in the overall preamp design at each single stage.

 

Any phono stage customer needs to know that several phono stages that are in the market and that offer inputs for MC and MM cartridges  does not comes with separated MC and MM stages but use/share the same phono stage circuit when electrically the MC performs way better with active gain bipolar devices and MM with FET devices. MC can runs with FET? yes but it's not optimal when we are looking for the " best ".

 

Yes we ( José and I ) designed the Essential ful-function fully balanced and fully discrete preamp starting 15 years ago with the 3150 model followed by the 3160 ( that @lewm  own ) and today the Essential 3180.

Our unit is custom made on custom order and we really are not in the audio market and do not compete with the preamps in the market.

What we want is only to share with a few MUSIC lovers what we achived taking in count that we have a true passion for MUSIC ( hardwer is only a tool to enjoy MUSIC. ) and we took the overall work design/manufacture of the Essential due that what existed and exist in the audio market even that are very fine units just does not satisfy our and MUSIC demanding targets to really be " there ".

Btw, it's a little weird/curios that the 8-10 Essential owners all were tube lovers when our unit is a full SS.

We think that the 3180 has no real signature ( tube/SS/analitical, warm and the like ) other than wake up in us that alive emotions that only MUSIC can does when reproduced in the " rigth " enviroment.

 

We will make only a few 3180 for the " lucky " gentlemans that have the " rare " opportunity to own it.

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

Hi: this is 3160 information and the 3180 is even better not for a very wide margin because at this top quality level is not an easy task to outperforms audio units but we think we did it and I'm ejoying:

 

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFqOWFzXvc/nvbyzIw8OxcENDf_Vb5emg/view?utm_content=DAFqOWFzXvc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

 

R.

 

 

I would recommend the Mola Mola Makua preamp. It can be purchased as a line stage or with a phono stage and/or a DAC stage. The beautiful thing about this preamp is that it is super transparent, neutral and very dynamic. The cherry on the top is the option of an absolutely wonderful sounding phono stage (same circuit as the Lupe stand alone phono stage). And if so moved, the optional DAC card is the finest I've heard (same circuit as the Tambaqui stand alone DAC). 

Preowned Vinnie Rossie L2 Signature with DAC and phono modules. $11K perhaps?

@ap1 

A quick scan of this Audiogon Forum reveals over 45 threads about 'Accuphase voltage conversion' - necessary if you import  a used piece from Japan into NA or Europe. Otherwise one can monkey around with transformers, @dodgealum does not strike me as someone who wants to spend time chasing equipment and mods to perhaps save a dollar. You maybe projecting.

The new distributor has service in CA and TN for gear they sell only.

As far as the fully balanced C-2300 goes it is better than the two preamps it replaces according to Accuphase, borne out by my listening and lab tests. The AD-60 is based on the C-47. Relevant is the use of FETs for MM and bipolar for MCs. The knock on some of the other big box names mentioned is that their included phono stages are basically from an A/V receiver.

The company has been successful for 50 years and has a succession plan. Its latest lead designer comes from Yamaha semiconductor. 

Yamaha C5000... impossible to get a better full-function pre under 20k, ime...about a 120 hours of burn-in is required to make it drop jaws.

I understand though.. the run of the mill audiopheulele wouldn’t look at it because ’Yamaha’ couldn’t possibly make him feel all that ’elusive’. There are plenty of other blank crap shooters with all the elusive marketing in that price bracket for such elusive elves. 😁

Hello @psnyder149 great comments on Bill at gtt audio.  He is a great guy and has amazing equipment.  He has commented that the Makua (and Tambaqui) are  the stars of the MM lineup.  Your set up is similar to one of mine, in that I had Classe amps with my Makua / Tambaqui.  But ever time I went downstairs to my Audionet electronics with Tambaqui it just ‘sparkled’ more!  So I replaced the Classe amps with Audionet Max amps and oh my!!! Now I hear the true beauty of the Makua w Tambaqui.  This system uses Revel Salon 2’s and Rel carbon special subs.