Eastern Electric MiniMax Preamp

Finally took the plunge and re-purchased the Minimax. After careful listening & as I thought before, it is a superb tube preamp for the price. Huge soundstaging that has great depth and transparency. It is even tube rectified (no silicon devices here), tubes are everything with this pre, it lets the music flow. What else could you ask for in a tube preamp? maybe a remote.

It's a great unit. I have a great phono section, otherwise I would have bought the pre-with phono. The minimax seems transparently open, meaning that tubes have a much bigger impact on the overall system sound than I have experienced in the past. I am not worldly wise, but I have heard a few things in my time.

Two things, speak to Bill O'Connell:
Check and see if they are upgrading the regular pre (mine is upgraded)
Definitely spend the extra for tubes. Particularly the 6x4. Bill can save you a lot of time and effort.

Ultimately I used tubes that I had from other pres and amps - but his were runners up in each case. In my case I decided to go for a little less detailed edge and kept it a bit more on the round side, it fit my system better.

Gregg

Yes, the Minimax preamp is an excellent effort on the part of Eastern Electric & its sound and build quality compares to some of the big boys!

I own one. Ive ran several audio research, Audible illusions M3a's ect. this little preamp sounds as good as unit 3-4 times its price. I suggest give it a try. Unit responds Very well to rolling and because of its design, matched pairs of tubes are not needed. Its fairly quiet but not the best. I have 22,000 speakers and im not looking to upgrade the preamp at this time