Interesting questions and points...
I have owned a Morrison ELAD for over 2 years.
If you can find one for $400, BUT IT! That is a steal.
It is very difficult to find preamplification that is more neutral for less than (retail) $1500 or even $2500.
Why did I sell my Morrison ELAD? I needed more inputs, and I wanted to move to a Sonic Frontiers 3SE preamp ($6k retail).
Always remember that next to no reviews are really neutral. People that review a product online and have paid good money for it will nearly never give the product they bought a negative review. Professional audio reviewers do not have any incentive handing out negative press because they are in the business for promoting audio and audio sales.
Also, and really good product I have found will have some negative press. You really have to read what people have to say in their reviews. Their words can tell you many times how good of judges they are. Also pay careful attention of what they have in their systems... The better the components (that you know are good), the more weight you may want to give their oppinion. I know when I talk to a fellow audiophile, and he says he runs say a d/c/s digital front end... I listen whole heartedly to what he has to say. D/c/s is world class gear, and folks that buy it, know great digital.
Why do great products almost inevitably get some bad press? As you move into higher level products, many times system matching becomes more and more important. Some people tend to buy a great product only to put them into systems that become unbalanced in some way when the product is introduced. A great example of this is Nordost Quattro Fil innerconnect. Look at the reviews at Audioreview.com for this innerconnect. The two really negative reviews are folks that use Levinson gear... Nordost Quattro Fil may not integrate well with Levinson gear. There is one other negative review, but it is a silly one that should be deleted. Anyway, all the other reviews were positive.
One thing about the Morrison. If you can get one for $500 used... You can always sell it for that price if you do not like it.
Audioreview will delete a review if they think it is too biased or unsubstantiated. It is rare, but they will delete them (read their rules for posting a review).
Anyway this and $2 will get you a $2 cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Peace.
Keith
I have owned a Morrison ELAD for over 2 years.
If you can find one for $400, BUT IT! That is a steal.
It is very difficult to find preamplification that is more neutral for less than (retail) $1500 or even $2500.
Why did I sell my Morrison ELAD? I needed more inputs, and I wanted to move to a Sonic Frontiers 3SE preamp ($6k retail).
Always remember that next to no reviews are really neutral. People that review a product online and have paid good money for it will nearly never give the product they bought a negative review. Professional audio reviewers do not have any incentive handing out negative press because they are in the business for promoting audio and audio sales.
Also, and really good product I have found will have some negative press. You really have to read what people have to say in their reviews. Their words can tell you many times how good of judges they are. Also pay careful attention of what they have in their systems... The better the components (that you know are good), the more weight you may want to give their oppinion. I know when I talk to a fellow audiophile, and he says he runs say a d/c/s digital front end... I listen whole heartedly to what he has to say. D/c/s is world class gear, and folks that buy it, know great digital.
Why do great products almost inevitably get some bad press? As you move into higher level products, many times system matching becomes more and more important. Some people tend to buy a great product only to put them into systems that become unbalanced in some way when the product is introduced. A great example of this is Nordost Quattro Fil innerconnect. Look at the reviews at Audioreview.com for this innerconnect. The two really negative reviews are folks that use Levinson gear... Nordost Quattro Fil may not integrate well with Levinson gear. There is one other negative review, but it is a silly one that should be deleted. Anyway, all the other reviews were positive.
One thing about the Morrison. If you can get one for $500 used... You can always sell it for that price if you do not like it.
Audioreview will delete a review if they think it is too biased or unsubstantiated. It is rare, but they will delete them (read their rules for posting a review).
Anyway this and $2 will get you a $2 cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Peace.
Keith