The reviews on AR are basically good for amusement only ( most of the time ). You can pick and choose amongst those reviews and find some very worthwhile insights. When someone goes into detail about a product, gives ample points of reference in direct comparisons to other "worthy" products, what they used with the DUT (Device Under Test), etc... i'll take those comments into consideration. Otherwise, i find that most of those reviews are done by "new owners" who tend to be SLIGHTLY biased and "overjoyed" with their new toy. Seeing someone's name on a review that i know or recognize as being "hardcore" also tends to add credibility in my eyes.
With all of that in mind, i prefer to go by first hand experience or from someone that i know and can trust. A friend (Ray) of a friend (Lou) just bought an Elad. From talking to Lou, i know that Ray has played with / experimented with enough gear to be pretty well versed in knowing what is out there. As such, i was interested in seeing what Ray thought of this unit.
In order to see if it stacked up with some of his other gear, he did some blind testing with his wife. Lucky for Ray, his wife is open to doing such things and enjoys the improvements to their system as much as he does. The two other pre's that the Elad was competing against were the Audible Illusions 3A and the Sunfire Classic. Obviously, both of these units are tubed and have been known to present a slightly "soft & creamy" sound as compared to most SS or passive designs. While he had the opportunity, Ray also extended the test to doing cable swaps, etc... I'm not completely sure how this was done or if the cable swapping might have confused the "which preamp" issue. After all, I was getting the info second hand from Lou.
From what i can gather, Ray's wife was kept "in the blind" as to which unit she was listening to and simply picked which unit she liked best after several "rounds" of testing. With all of the variables taken into consideration, both Ray and his wife preferred the Elad in every test that they conducted. The AI 3A came in second with the Sunfire Classic coming in third. Ray's wife was disappointed, as she liked the cosmetics of the Sunfire with its "glow window". In terms of cable swapping, they came to no specific conclusions.
This tells me that the Elad is at least a competent product. It can stand toe to toe with some other products that have been well reviewed by professionals along with being loved by end users. Like any other component, it would be susceptible to system mismatches, various loading effects, personal taste, etc... As such, i can see how it might work well for "Billy Bob" but not for "Joe Jim".
After Lou told me of this and stated that he was now possibly interested in the Elad, i did a SMALL amount of reading up. From what i was able to find out, it "measures up" in terms of specs. While i can't say that i put COMPLETE faith in measurements or specs, i am a tech by trade and can't deny that it influences me. After all, something that is well built, well designed and thoughtfully laid out SHOULD measure AND sound good. While there are ways to get good measurements using "junk" circuitry and parts ( i.e. tons of negative feedback, doing tests that only highlight the strengths of the product ), the tests that i saw on the Elad somewhat dispelled that approach.
It appears as if Don Morrison was going for the fast, wide bandwidth, low distortion, etc... "straight wire with gain" approach that was first done (to my knowledge) by AGI and then picked up by Spectral and a few others. Some folks don't like the sound of such products. Some say they are TOO revealing, "stripped down" or "unmusical". My personal opinion is that some people prefer specific "colourations" and these units strive to be at the opposite end of the spectrum. So be it. I guess that's why there are SOOOOOO many different brands, makes, models, designs, etc... out there for all of us to choose from.
With the price of the Elad and Don Morrison's willingness to work with customers, i see no way to go wrong by trying it. My biggest problem with the unit is that it DOES lack inputs. As such, i would think that Don might want to think about expanding the product line to include something that is slightly more versatile in terms of inputs, etc... Then again, his approach of "simplicity" would probably become "tainted" due to the increased amount of wiring, switching, etc... Either way, i'm sure that there are others out there that will ( and SHOULD ) chime in with their comments and personal experience about this unit. I myself am somewhat interested in it. Sean
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