Experience with Raul's Essential 3150

Gconde and fellow Audiogoners:
I was also at Raul,s place 3 days ago, this was my second visit to him being last time 2 years ago. I definetly heard an improvment in his new preamp from his previous battery power supply prototype. As mentioned above yes i agree is more transparent and without brightness, its just an open window. While i don,t want to go on and on with reviewer type of adjectives that have been mentioned before i do want to mention that i was also extremly impressed with its MM phono section. When I asked Raul about vintage vs new cartridges. He imediatly put another arm on the same record (Clark Terry) with a vintage MM cartridge(can,t remember the model). I couldn,t believe how musical and correct it was sounding even compared to the top of the line Dynavector we were hearing before. He told me that while new MC,s are better now its not the same case with newer MM,s, and that the only thing that has improved in MM,s is that we have now beeter MM designed phonostages being the 3150 essential MM a strong advocate into that.
Gconde: congratulations on your newly ordered 3150, the thing is a beast!...
Raul: Thank you so much for your hospitality and your unintrested willingness to share your music and analog passion with me.
BTW i was also accompanied by a dealer friend of mine who is the Mexican importer for Jadis,Harmonix,Gryphon and many top high-end brands,..he was equally impressed and had a great time too.

I have know Raul for some time and have always considered him as the person to go whenever I had a problem or wanted questions answered about analog systems.
I have heard in the past Raul system and have always considered it as a very good one but without that “thing” that made it something extraordinary or special.
I listen at home on a Dynavector VX1 plus a Halcro DM10 plus a Pass like class A Amp coupled to ORIS horns with AER’s . I love my system and after listened to many other systems I found it very difficult to contemplate changing anything in my gear.
I must say the the HALCRO made a large change when it was connected in the chain.

Well now comes the story

I went to Raul’s house to talk about some mods in my turntable cables and after our conversation he told if I wanted to hear his new preamp.

I was in a hurry and tried to escape but he was insistent and I could not go.

He had changed his preamplifier and explained to me that he had finally finished his project after some years work.

The preamp looked good.

As I have said I was in a hurry and had to leave.

After 5 hours listening to all kind of music I still was not ready to go.

What I heard was the BEST system in my life. And having been a hi-end audio distributor in Mexico in the past, I have heard a LOT.

The music coming from the stage was pure, real and with an air that I could swear it was there. The feeling of intimacy and the sheer reality of instruments, voices and spatial correctness was amazing.

I had to do it. We took ( I forgot all my hurries) the preamp to my house to try it because I was (hoping) that it will do nothing better than my Halcro and what I was hearing was just a lucky ( a very, very lucky) marriage of elements in Raul’s system.

Sorry to say ( because now I am 10K$ poorer than before) that the change was monumental. All I heard before in my system improved so much that I was amazed to say the least. Everything I liked in my system was increased many times and the music became just that MUSIC. I am getting the Essential in a few weeks.

If you have a good analog system please try the Essential . You will find it will be worth the try.

Guillermo Conde

Hi Raul- Sorry I missed you in CT. Maybe my ;~) doesn't translate too well. Just joking. Trip 2, not Mark 2 perhaps more likely. I just would have loved to hear it!!! But as much as we love our music and our gear (c'mon, admit that the toys are fun to play with) my family comes first and we had had an important trip planned for some time. Anyways, if I have to wait years for the Mark 2, I'd still love to hear it.

I visited Raul this week to listen to the latest version of the Essential preamp.
When we got there he was playing the Dynavector XV1 cartridge through a SAEC arm.
The first impression was of clarity, everything seemed very transparent airy highs well defined bass all was there but I little bit more cohesive than I remember from my prior visits, the sound was better integrated.
Raul was, as always, a very good host, and very knowledgeable. He is the most driven Audio fanatic I have met and it is good to talk about audio with someone so passionate about it. We also discussed about the local Concert season and the best Directors.
After some listening I noticed that the system was a bit more mellow than it used to be, while still vibrant there is no listeners fatigue, we played a lot of Jazz (Duke Ellington and crowd) and the music was just alive, but still warm. We asked him to switch to the Van den Hull Colibri (his secret favorite) cartridge and he explained he got it set up in a Sumiko arm he had stored for some years and when he tried it he loved the combination it does with the Colibri. What impressed me the most about the preamp is we never talked about it after the first conversation of his recent trip. I remembered the preamp when the first notes from the Colibri started to flow, it was like switching from CD to Vinyl, Lou Armstrong´s voice had amazing detail I could see his mouth move, we could feel his chest resonate and all the instruments came into the room. This being said it did sound a little thin with Holst´s Planets.
This is how you notice if the preamp is doing its job, it lets the signal go through whatever you feed into it, he did inform us when we arrived that he was still setting up the VTA on the Dynavector cartridge, but the brilliance and liveliness of the Colibri are its trademarks. We then started talking about the preamp and he told us of the endless listening test he has run comparing the preamp to a resistor load until sound wise you could not tell one from the other, he also run a lot of comparison tests with most reference phono preamps and I can vouch for his access to them, (yes FM acoustics was on the list). Another friend who is a tube preamp designer had a technical conversation with him that ended with talk about subwoofer integration; he later told me how impressed he was with the current design. I asked him if he would make a bigger version with double power supplies but it is not on the drawing board.

Congratulations Raul!

PS: I am not connected to the company in any way.

Dear Albert: +++++ " I offered to do some product photography as Raul has no professional images. " +++++

Thx in advance, we appreciate that.

regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Have you compared with fm acoustics raul?

Perhaps Raoul & Tekunda are cousins...perhaps.

Dear Swampwalker: Essential 3150 MK2 version?, I don't think so at least not in the near future.

Please let José and me enjoy what we have today!!!

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Albert: Well done. Yes, the numbers tell not enough about quality performance but in a good thinking design help to confirm and understand that quality performance.

The Aesthethix has several audio values like: active high gain all tube phono stage with out using step-up transformers or FETS.
I heard the very low output Jade with out noise in your system!!!

Yes, I will take care to things happen like we already discussed at your place.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Albert- Well said. In fact, almost perfectly said. There is, of course, no perfect piece of audio writing, just as there is no perfect piece of gear. Of course, everything that I have read so far makes me regret even more, my inability to accept Doug's invitation to hear the essential. What a cool thing for Raul to have done and also very cool for the hosts, too. I'm waiting for his next trip to CT w/the 3150 Mark 2 ;~)

First of all, Raul wanted me to listen to the Essential, not do a comparison between it and my Aesthetix.

We disconnected both of the Aesthetix units and set up the Essential before our listening session.

Aesthetix has been my reference for 7 years, Raul wanted the 3150 plus the rest of my system, so we were both OK with skipping the Aesthetix intro.

I judge only with my ears, not the numbers. The Essential is an excellent preamp-phono and although the specifications are impressive, that says nothing more about it's sound than the specifications of a Yamaha integrated or Boulder phono (both of these, typically a decimal point followed by multiple zeros as a distortion spec).

My psychic mind tells me Albert Porter had a serious reality check...

Psychicanimal, if that happened, I didn't realize it. Thanks for the update.

I hope to listen to the Essential again. Raul and I discussed that possibility and I offered to do some product photography as Raul has no professional images. At that time I could listen longer and in a relaxed mode and maybe even write a review at Positive Feedback. I can listen to a piece like this and rave about its merit, regardless if it qualifies as a replacement for my Aesthetix or not.

I think anyone who's read much of what I post here, I rave about Vandersteen, Kharma, Maggies, Quads, Avalon, Dynaudio, Martin Design and Evolution Audio (to name just a few). Does this mean I plan on selling my Dali Megalines and move to another speaker? .......No.

All those brands are superb designs but none of these speakers are necessarily better in EVERY area than every other one on the list. Each has major strengths and a little weakness and each represents a particular designers shot at perfection. There simply are NO perfect pieces in audio, not my Dali's, not the Aesthetix, not any brand spoken of in these forums.

However, I am not surprised when someone claims one of these as "best," or at least the best they've ever heard.

Not surprising, as they are all within the top tier.

As for Raul:

I reserve my opinion about the Essential 3150 quality sound reproduction against not only the Aesthetix one but about any other phono-line-preamp. This not belongs to my targets and I'm not the right person to do it because the Essential 3150 is an important part in the José and my life and we could have some bias in favor of the Essential 3150.

I would hope Raul would have a bias for the Essential, it's a project he is passionately involved in and the end result is a beautifully designed and built unit that I think will find great success.

There will also be people who prefer EAR, CAT, BAT, Aesthetix or ARC simply because these tube designs perform so differently than transistors. That is part and parcel of the high end business and neither confirms nor denies Raul's passion or the value of the Essential.

I look forward to another session with it, hope that happens as we discussed.

My psychic mind tells me Albert Porter had a serious reality check...

Don't worry Albert, I'm sure Raoul will give you an *amigo* deal on the preamp!

Raoul, I'm happy for you...really.

Dear friends: I already receive several e-mails asking for my opinion about other Phonolinepreamps out there and specially some of the ones that I had the opportunity to " meet " during the Essential 3150 roudtrip.

Like I posted somewhere the " objective/target " to visit all the AG people during my trip was not to challenge their Phonolipreamps but to know a different alternative, that's why ( with any of them ) we heard through the Essential 3150 with out come back to their Phonolinepreamp to make a
shoot-out/down.

Anyway, we have ( any people ) universal information ( through web sites, audio magazines and AG forum )about several Phonolinepreamps combinations ( including the Essential 3150 ). All these information is not " top secret ": is totally disclose, for example if we take the top of the top Aesthetix models ( the six chasis unit ) we can read this on the Phono unit ( alone ):

- that the signal goes through four stages and then through additional cables to the Aesthethix line preamp. This means six stages where the signal must pass.

- that the inverse RIAA eq. deviation between 20 to 20kHz is +,- 0.25 db, this means a swing of 0.5 db. ( the RIAA deviation means that the deviation in a precise frequency does not only affect that single frequency, because the RIAA is a curve, but almost three frequency octaves!!!!! ).

- signal to noise ratio: 70 db.

- output impedance 300/600: RCA/XLR ( the output impedance is of high importance because a figure like this tell us that the signal could loose its original integrity ).

- the Aesthethix are coupled through capacitors/transformers. This means that those units are not direct coupled and that the signal pass through capacitors/transformers.

- these designs are not fully balanced, its first stage ( the most important one ) is unbalanced ( the balance design has many advantages and one of them is that in a true fully balanced design the distortions/noise are cancelled ).

- I can't find any figure for distortion. I can't understand why is that.

Now, we can take info about any phonolinepreamp out there. If you want the Essential 3150:

- the signal goes through two stages and does not needs additional cables/connector because the Essential is an integral unit.

- its inverse RIAA eq. deviation from 20 to 20kHZ is: 0.015db. As a fact the Matthew unit goes with 0.009db.

- signal to noise ratio over 80db.

- output impedance: 75/150 Ohms

- direct coupled. The signal does not pass through any single capacitor/transformer.

- fully balanced input to output.

- distortion: 0.0002%

- frequency response: 0.01 to 1 Mhz.

These are only some subjects about differences ( facts ) in those two differnt unit but there are many other subjects and differences in both designs.

I reserve my opinion about the Essential 3150 quality sound reproduction against not only the Aesthethix one but about any other phonolinepreamp. This not belongs to my targets and I'm not the right person to do it because the Essential 3150 is an important part in the José and my life and we could have some bias in favor of the Essential 3150.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear Piedpiper: " cartridge floating ": pin 1 disconnected.

Regards and enjoy the music.
raul.

Thanx yanx! just repeating what I'd heard (a risky business at best) re: the Io/Wavestream reference.

Definitely looking forward to soaking up the warm wet West Coast Winter weather, and the tunes, both live and otherwise.

Pied...Brian Hartsell is the owner of The Analog Room which has been the home for Scott Frankland's Wavestream for some time now. The V8 monos have, for a very long time, been a dominating presence in one of the listening rooms. You will enjoy listening to the phono piece to which you refer. I do not think that rotation or current placement of the Wavestream as a "reference" system component in any way translates to a reduced appreciation on Brian's part for the Aesthetix gear.

Enjoy your stay in the Bay Area.

Dear Gregadd: " As well meaning as Raul is he chose to visit those whose opinion is most trusted here on audiogon. I don't blame him. "

The fact was that I choose to make a personal delivery with the Matt Essential who lives in Austin, TX, then I ask to other AG people that live in TX and visit them.
In the case of Andrew, Dan and Doug/Paul I never imagine to visit them I accept their invitation and that's it.

Anyway, " I would have to start saving my pennies " , you can do it : don't stop.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I will be in the Bay Area shortly and plan on stopping in on the Analogue Room.

Evidently one of the owners is also part owner of Wavestream...

BTW, I'm also interested in perspective on the new Wavestream Kinetics PS that has gotten some recent attention here. Evidently, the Analogue Room has replaced their Aesthetix Io with it as their reference.

I have not heard that piece but have high respect for the Wavestream Kinetics V8 amp.

This years CES roster has Wavestream confirmed as a exhibitor. I was planning on stopping by and speaking with them anyway, now I will look for preamp and phono pieces as well.

That being said, there are many reasons stores change their loyalty, and sonic excellence is not always the motive.

Thanks Albert for your thoughtful and compassionate input on my question. As is often the case, especially with those products "good enough to qualify for that", it is a matter of taste what a person chooses for ones own. With that said, there is still much room and relevance for "objective" observations of the contenders. With all due respect to Raul, HP and the "Absolute Sound" as reference, as well as Raul's good taste in not wanting to denegrade other's work, we are in the position of choosing between components, not between a component and the live event. Thusly, I AM interested in comparisons between reference pieces so as to know what flavors of ice cream are available, within context of course. Many upper eschelon designers claim "no signature." In fact, Lloyd's PS is a version of the AHT "Nonsignature" PS. IMHO this is not an option, although something to aspire to. It is still subject to the designer's perception of what that is, not to mention his ability to achieve it.

Re: Lloyd's phono stage in the context of Albert's system and taste, I feel it is possible and helpful to make useful observations, without denegrating Lloyd's work. Thank you Albert for tiptoing across the safety barriers.

I'm sure I'm simply speaking out the subtext that at least some of the participants in this discourse are fully aware. Pragmatist that I am, I hope my input is of some use to some of our readers.

BTW, I'm also interested in perspective on the new Wavestream Kinetics PS that has gotten some recent attention here. Evidently, the Analogue Room has replaced their Aesthetix Io with it as their reference.

Sorry Greg and others, the reason I don't mention Lloyds phono is because I had it in my system twice and do not like it. Perhaps It's because my cartridge is .2MV output and Lloyds phono is 22 DB less gain than my Io.

Perhaps It because its transistor and I prefer tubes. I hate saying anything negative about Walker products because I love my turntable and the Walker HDL's beyond belief.

I don't think it's possible for any high end company to make a group of products that are accepted across the board. Many companies make products that I like and yet other things in their line do not appeal to me. I think this is true for everyone at Audiogon, at least it appears that way with the diversity of product we choose to power our music.

The Essential is transistor and very clean, it has sufficient gain, meaning I could live with it (on that judgement only) and for that reason, if forced to choose between the Walker phono and the Essential, I would go with the Essential.

Right now I have no intention of moving from Aesthetix. I'm not certain any product made anywhere can move me from Aesthetix, but I am willing to listen again, and to all products that qualify to do the job.

At this very moment, with no other experience to draw on (I would NEVER make a decision that way!) If forced to move from my two Aesthetix pieces I would look at the Lamm phono and the Audio Research REF series.

That is just talk, not a valid comment on what is or what should be. I am extremely slow to change reference pieces. I prefer to work on reducing the flaws that exist (with my and all systems) and get the most of what is already there. As I have mentioned before, there is more excellent equipment available today than at any time in the history of audio.

I have no doubt Raul will find buyers that will crown the 3150 as "the" reference piece in their system with no consideration for replacing it with anything made. It's certainly good enough to qualify for that, especially for those that want solid state and compare the 10K (current) price with Boulder and other mega pieces and what they command in the market.

Piedpiper- no ofense taken.I too was not aware of "Rauls North American Tour." It is unlikley that I am in the market for $10k preamp. Although upon hearing it I could be so impressed that I would have to start saving my pennies. The audio market has changed so much that I rarely get a chance to give any product a long term audition.
As well meaning as Raul is he chose to visit those whose opinion is most trusted here on audiogon. I don't blame him.

Gregadd, pardon me, didn't mean to hit a nerve. Just noticed Albert Porter had Lloyd's table; there were a few other phono stages mentioned; and I was hoping to hear some more familiar reference points for those of us who haven't had the pleasure of a visit from Raul.

Let Lloyd start his own thread. Self promotion is not his weak point.

Raul, perhaps you could explane the "cartridge floating" balanced configuration you mentioned.

Also, any thoughts in this context about the Lloyd Walker's phono stage which is another attempt at no compromise?

Dear friends: " Brass sounded brassier with the CAT than through the Essential ".

From my point of view I would like to address this misunderstanding:

other than many critical design differences between the CAT and the Essential 3150 there are at least two important subjects that make a huge difference in the quality sound reproduction that we perceived through both units: with the CAT and with out music you could hear a radio station ( very clear ) through the Andrew's speakers and a very significant tube rush. Only these two issues makes a difference against the non-distorted/non-colored Essential performance.
In my humble opinion there is no " thin " Essential sound, there is a truer to the recording neutral/purer sound.

With the CAT the sound was not " brassier " but bright and almost harsh and with the Essential was: well " brassier ".

We have to remember that in some ways we are hearing a different frequency reponse from those units.

During my trip I never try to compare between the Essential and the other Phonolinepreamps, what I want it is that the people hear the Essential, that the people could hear something different from what they already have.

All these people already have the opportunity to hear the Essential in their systems only for a few hours (Paul/Doug heard it for two days ), I suggest that any one of you take direct contact with Desmond and Matt ( Essential owners ) to know more about the quality sound reproduction on the Essential 3150.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dear friends: One other aspect that could help to understand the Essential quality performance is that is designed through bipolar transistor technology and that is build through only two gain stages.
I don't know any other active high gain Phonopreamp out there ( SS or tube ) that using bipolar transistor has only two stages. Btw, the V-caps that the Essential is using are the Teflon ones.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Might I ask why this thread is under analog rather than amps and preamps? I had heard of the thread but had to do a search to find it. I would have loved to hear it.

Wow! you guys are enjoying Rauls preamp. So glad I suggested it.

Dear Albert: Yes, I forgot: sorry.

Btw, I don't know which balance configuration is using Purist: we recomended the cartridge floating one that is what Desmond and Mattew are using.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Raul, perhaps you forgot about my setup.

We used Balanced XLR Purist Anniversary phono cables from my Walker turntable to your Essential.

Dear friends: There is something that you all have to know: during each Essential presentation on those audio system the signal from the cartridge was passed to the Essential through unbalanced ( RCA ) way, no one of those audio systems had a balanced phono interconnect.
This fact means that we could not take advantage of the " natural " balanced operation design on the Essential and of course the better quality sound reproduction in balanced mode.

Btw, Desmond and Mattew " run " the Essential in fully balanced mode.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Dan got it 100% wrong and I got it 50% wrong, but please add 50 points for the girly photo.

Bwah-ha-ha-ah-ha! Wow! Is my face red! :) Yesterday was a long day!

This is great stuff guys.

Along the lines of what Doug intimated, it's not so much your overall choice of tubes vs. solid state, but what you do with it. I have every confidence that between the Essential, the Alap, and (if I may be so bold) the Artemis Labs phono stage, that the big boys will soon be sweating bullets.

The small guys have one very big advantage - it's spelled P-A-S-S-I-O-N. I've held firm to the opinion that the personality and sensibilities of the designer bleed through into their design to the point where the two are inseparable.

Many of you may remember Harry Pearson's pontification about gear with dark colored faceplates tending toward a dark or warm presentation (emphasis on the upper bass through lower midrange). At first blush, this is a completely screwball statement.

Taken in the context that a product is an expression of the tastes, sensibilities, and of course competency of the designer, then his choice of color is quite possibly correlated to his these sensibilities and communicated in the sonic palate they select.

I've been asked publicly on this list on more than one occasion about those phono stages I feel to be unworthy of my highest consideration. Its not my place to trash other manufacturers and I won't answer that question.

I feel much more comfortable about the flip side of this however (the great stuff), and I have every confidence that Raul's Essential is in the top tier of gear. Heck !! Two of my customers state it in this thread, and we know that they obviously have great taste (grin).

Congratulations on your whirlwind tour, Raul! I am very anxious to meet you. Are you guys planning on exhibiting at next year's Rocky Mountain Audiofest? It's not too early to start thinking about it. If you have any questions about it, let me know privately, off-list

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

ahem, gentlemen..."Feliz Navidad."

Isn't it Feliz Navidad?
:-)

Dan_ed,

I'm no expert on language but I think you meant Felice Navidad

Either that or you spelled it correctly and THIS Falice is what you're wishing for Raul.

If so, no wonder he headed home.

Glad you arrived home safe and sound, Raul.

Falice Navidad,

Dan

Hi All,

As an Essential owner from across the pond (yes, it's me to whom Raul refers above), I can only say that it surpasses anything I've heard or owned before.

As a formerly life-long tube listener, I should mention that there were a variety of challenges in adjusting my ears to the new and fuller level of musical information that I was receiving through the Essential: not least of which was to begin listening to the musicians and their performances rather than (what I have now come to recognise to be my former practise of) listening to my hifi system and its colourings.

I can only suggest that anyone who can afford one and who is more interested in live music, get's one. Congrat's Matt we'll have to talk more as things settle in with yours. Just my penny's worth.

Dgob

Dear friends: There are somethings that belongs to this thread and that help to understand the Essential 3150 quality performance:

- the Essential was not designed thinking in any one of you ( with all my respect to any one of you ), it is designed thinking in us ( Jose and I ), we designed for us wanting to have a better ( non compromise ) quality music/sound reproduction, over any other single electronics out there, that could bring out in our audio system what is really on the recording and to be nearer ( not so far away ) to the live event. This whole target was a huge challenge and was our motivation to build the Essential and to be here after almost 12 years of work about.

- We make an " in deep " electronic research theories for the Essential design/lay-out to find the right way where ( through the electronic design ) we could achieve our whole Essential targets. We use not only our know-how and skills about but the whole know-how that already exist out there. I want to tell you that from the Essential design we already start with three patented electronic design process. The Essential is a unique Phonolinepreamp.

- we check/test several parts: bipolars, Fets, resistors, caps, etc, etc, to find not only which was the best way to integrate those single parts on the whole Essential design but which parts had/have the most neutral " sound " performance. We don't choose and we was not looking for the " higher price " ( marketing ) parts but for the best neutral ones.

- we design ( for the most part José ) with out any commercial compromomise our compromise is only with the MUSIC. That's why the Essential is an active high gain ( no step up transformers that degrade the signal quality ) Phonolinepreamp integrated unit ( no additional interconnect cables and connectors that degradedd the signal quality ).

- we design with non signature sound in mind: warm/smooth/clear/etc, etc., we don't manipulated the Essential design to a signature kind of sound: tube/sound/hybrid " sound " ) and you can hear it because the SS Essential design has not the typical SS sound.

- now, the Essential design is not unique only because we say so. I'm not a " specification lover " but I take the " numbers " where they really counts.
Here are only some Essential critical specs:

inverse RIAA eq deviation: 0.015db from 20 to 20kHz !!!!. This one help to the Essential to be " truer to the recording " fact like no any single ( commercial or not at any price ) phonolinepreamp out there.

flat frequency response from: 0.01Hz to 1mHz.

overall distortion: 0.0002%

common mode rejection: -150db!!!

- other Essential considerations: our design is a Non-feedback, direct coupled, pure class A , true balanced input to output, dual mono design and fully regulated input to output. This dual mono design only share the chasis but both channels are totally independent from each other even in the external power supply that is so important to the performance on our phonolinepreamp.
The signal through the Essential not even not pass through any caps but even not pass through any single piece of wire because all parts ( including connectors ) are soldered directly to the 4 layers circuit boards. Btw, we use a 4 layer boards in the Essential design because is the only right way to design true segmented ground plane.

- the Essential design is a current mode one : The advantages of this extraordinarily simple technique are:

1) The volume control attenuates the audio signal and the stage noise at the same time, resulting in outstanding signal-to-noise ratios and dynamic range.

2) For every volume position, there is only one resistor defining the quality of the amplified signal (even a high-quality stepped attenuator has two resistors per position). This is one of our " unique design approach ".

As high-quality resistors are within the most sonically transparent devices available, the output signal is an exact replica of the input, only differing by an amplifying factor. The result is a phonopreamplifier combining the purity and transparency of a passive preamplifier with the speed, dynamics and drive of an active preamplifier. Btw, almost all the preamplifiers out there change its frequency response every time you move the volume: the Essential don't, the Essential frequency response is always the same it does not matters of the volume pot position!!!

Well, with the Essential ( all of us ) we have not only a " truer to the recording " Phonolinepreamp but a very critical/critic tool that for the better or worst tell you if everything is ok in your audio system or if there is/are some issues about.
When we own the Essential and we are hearing it we have to think seriously if our audio system today set-up is really right on target. The Essential could help you to make this because its almost inexistent noise/distortions/colorations.

The Essential " leaves " the music/sound flows freely with all music/sound feelings and emotions.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Raul called me before leaving Laredo to ask about impedance loading for our UNIverse. I suggested 100 ohms, since that is nominally the optimum load for a 4 ohm cartridge in an unknown circuit. He soldered in the appropriate resistors before leaving (or maybe on the plane?).

That worked fine. HF response was neither peaky nor rolled off. LF response was powerful and deep yet well controlled. If I were ordering an Essential 3150 for use with this cartridge I wouldn't chose a different value, at least not for our system.

Dear friends: That was a mistake: 3150 = MMMCL , is the right way and the other is 2150 not 2950.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

I'm glad to hear you're returning home safely Raul. You really put yourself out with driving, especially considering the Thanksgiving holiday madness (and traffic).

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and spending time with you, thanks for including me on your trip.

Dear friends: The 3150 denomination on the Essential means something very simple, like Matt posted the Essential 3150 is in reality three fully balanced independent preamps in one box/chasis: Moving Coil, Moving Magnet and Line, so:
MCMML = 3150. We have a second model: two MC and Line:
2MCL = 2950.

The roman numbers were translated two the arabic numbers, that's all.

On other idea order and like Matt already posted the Essential is finished with the impedance that you choose. Yes, I change the load impedance with Fred, Albert and Paul/Doug systems. To do this you have to solder the resistor value that you need.

As Matt posted the introductory price of the Essential 3150 will change after we receive the first 10 orders, after that the price go higher.. We could receive, only, another seven orders at that price.

Btw, some of you maybe can remember an old refrence where I posted about a " English gentleman " that own the Essential 3150, well he is Desmond Bailey and you can contact with him at: desmond@owlsolutions.eu.com . His audio system: Talon speakers, Acoustic Signature Mambo TT, Ikeda/Moerch/Lustre tonearms, Allaerts MC2 Finish/Dynavector XV-1/MusicMaker cartridges, Levinson amp, etc, etc.

I don't want to " take " the Andrew thread so I'm thinking to share with all of you ( in other thread ) the great experiences that I lived during my audio trip in USA

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Hi Dan_ed,

No issue, just curious. I didn't mean to suggest there was any gross mismatch, as obviously everyone involved, except me maybe:-), has enough experience to know better. Judging by the comments above I'm sure whatever load the pre had (maybe 100 Ohms?) was not so far off the mark as to be a problem, but I still think it's a valid question to know how well matched they were. The pre has no default load impedance as it is tailored to your individual cart when ordered(kind of what I was getting at). Also, the 150 Ohms I mentioned was the balanced output impedance, not the load impedance:-).

I guess when I asked the question I was thinking more that I was surprised that the Essential performed so well with one load(if that's the case) presented to several different carts. Perhaps most of the carts used share a similar coil impedance and that's why there wasn't any problem. My Colibri wants a 200 Ohm load and in the past when I loaded it at 100 Ohms or 500 Ohms I definitely heard changes in the frequency response, hence my curiousity. Anyways, I didn't mean anything negative by the question, I was just surprised it performed so well with several different carts if the load remained consistent, that's all:-).

Matt

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I'm not sure why this is any issue. Based on the consensus and what I heard there is no reason to question any of the impressions due to the loading.

I'm guessing that Raul and Doug and Paul are intelligent enough to figure out if there was any gross loading issues. :)

If the 150 ohm loading that Mab33 mentioned was the default configuration, then there is no there, there.

Mab33, an excellent question. A big missing info most of the time they (them magazines)review either cartridge or phono preamp.

I think 3150 is what it cost to make, in Pesos (hecho en Mexico!) Raul just forgot to take the cost off the finished product, ha ha! OK, only kidding, but one thing no one has remarked so far:

Could this be the first ever high end audio product to come out of Mexico?! Quite an auspicious start I'd say! And it didn't have to swim over from China!

Good luck Raul. The dedication required to make such a big splash in such a small pond borders on saintly!
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