Good preamp with Merlin TSM speakers?


I own Merlin TSM bookshelf speakers which are nicely detailed but a bit on the dry side with my Modwright 9.0 se preamp. I'm looking for a preamp to warm up the sound and thinking about CJ tube pre. Suggestions, ~$2k or under? I like the detail of the Modwright but would like more flesh on the bone. I use Tube Audio Design ss monoblock power amps ("Hibachi").
pmboyd

Showing 2 responses by signaturesound

@pmboyd Of all the Joule preamps, the older LA-100 (MKIII which is the last version of the LA100 being the best due its construction, the remote used, etc) will be the one with the most "flesh on the bone"... the later LA-150(MKII) is better in a number of ways and retains much of the LA-100MKIII's tonal character (due to its dual mono all 6350 tube based topology mainly... gives better soundstaging, bass goes deeper with better definition etc).

@jmcgrogan2 has a good bean on what used units are going for in his post. Well cared for used units are not hard to come by, and I am available if you need support, tubes or service or just want to give a used unit you buy a check-up before paling it into service in your system.

The Ars-Sonum Filarmonia is a great match for the TSMs (its what is playing in my listening room right now), but it is a integrated and it sounds like you want to stick with separates. Full disclosure, I am the sole authorized dealer/distributor for Ars Sonum products in the USA and I do have used Ars Sonum amplifiers available from time to time as customers upgrade or move on to other gear (contact me directly or watch for my ads here on audiogon for when i have such items available).

Back to Joule-Electra, I have recently made a number updates and additions to my Joule-Electra reference/information page on my web site. http://sigsound.com/classic-product-info/joule-electra-info-page/ It has a bunch of scans of old product literature, show hand outs, etc and even old price lists, plus PDF scans of (or links to) reviews and other assorted info. I still need to get around to adding (scanning to PDF then uploading) owners manuals though.

One last note to pmboyd, what versions are your TSMs??? If a older version (i.e not the last Black Magic version), have you considered updating them??? I know a guy who does that exactly as Bobby P at Merlin did. ;-)

Hope this helped!

Rich Brkich
Signature Sound


@soundsrealaudio Based on your comment, I see you are focusing on (and sounds like have only heard) the one version of the LA-150 (the MK1) line stage which was made for a couple years which used the 6H30 and the 6C45 tubes in the line stage. No, it was not Juds best preamp. Most of the Joule preamps out there use NOS 5751 and 6350's in the line stage (LA-100) or NOS 6350's (in the LA-150MKII line stage - which is not a Russian super tube, but a sweet American made dual triode form the 50's and 60's)... IMO these are Joule-Electra preamps which sounded best. These willl not sound like a UltraVerve (which is a good sounding preamp, just had one here for a checkup a few weeks ago), but are very good sounding preamps in their own right.

Cheers,
Rich