First Sound Preamplifiers Impressions

@calloway thank you for sharing - which model year was the FS pre that you had? And, which pre did you move to from the FS and what prompted the change?

@tooblue was the FS and Lamm similar in performance and character?

@ebm do you remember which model (and year) was your friend's FS?

had a FS top of the line Pre and it was just great.

MY friend had one it sounded wonderful and owner was great as well.Buy on ASAP!!

I was lucky enough to purchase a First Sound Presence MKIII on the used market about 10 years ago, I was putting together my retirement system and had a list of preamps (12 long) that I wanted to live with before selling off and purchasing my selected preamp new. My choice came down to the First Sound Presence MKIV and a Lamm LL2.1 Deluxe, I started reaching out to dealers to get the best deal while making my choice as both preamps were the cream of the crop in the price range I was in and I honestly could not make up my mind, I had both the Lamm and the First Sound in home at the same time (both purchased used and sold to buy the selected choice new) to A/B and it came down to price. I bought the Lamm direct from a dealer referred to me by Lamm as there was no dealer in Houston for $2,500.00 less than the price Emmanuel Go quoted me on the Presence MKIV so my choice was an easy one.  Enjoy the music

Thanks for the additional color @oddiofyl !

It just is.  Rather have a single knob

Thats not to say it isn’t a great preamp , I bet it is   It is definitely the most dual mono pre I’ve seen in a single chassis. It’s literally got two mirrored left and right mono preamps in one chassis

its very cool but not for me 

Thanks @lak 

@oddiofyl why is dual volume a deal breaker for you?

It looks high quality.....about as true dual mono as you can get.    Unfortunately dual volume is a deal breaker for me 

I used to own a First Sound passive preamp years ago. IMO all of the First Sound preamps are very good!

Each step up in price sounds better than the previous.