Music First Audio Passive Magnetic Preamplifiers?

Audiofun, what does your system consist of? Was the shootout performed in your system or someone else's? Was it blinded in any way?

I am curious to hear more about the "current generation" TRL reference pre-amp you heard since most of those units are overseas. A majority of the references stateside are 10-15 years old (and older....).

There have been recent shootouts between the recent generation TRL Dude (mid-level TRL unit) and the Concert Fidelity and AR anniversary addition by people I know in high resolution systems with state of the art conditioning, etc, and the results were the exact opposite of your findings.

After spending the past weekend at Axpona, it reconfirmed that audio is a wickedly subjective hobby and seems to be steered by system and brain chemistry more than anything else. I guess that is part of what makes it entertaining and fun....

There seems to be some persistent confusion regarding the TRL "Reference" pre-amp (aka GTP-4). No participant in this thread, including myself, has heard it. Paul W. said the last one he made was in the late was in the late 90s. It was a two chassis number where the pre-amp section weighed in at 90 lbs and the power supply weighed 140 lbs. He did make several non-reference but upper level pre-amps from 2000-2, including two multi-channel pres for home theater applications, and another 2-3 that were specifically designed to be used with the Magico 3s. The later entity used the 6080s due to the requirements of the Magico x-overs and were a flawed entity according to Paul. That is what your uncle bought and sold Don.

As for comparisons, the only person who owns an actual Reference TRL pre-amp (circa 1994) has a top dollar system with state of the art conditioning technology in tow. He has compared the GTP-4 to many pre-amps, including the CF-080, Light Speed Attenuator, The Truth, etc. It was a massacre. Everything else "sounded like HiFi." The only pre-amp to better the GTP-4 in his system is the current generation Dude. It smoked it.

The Dude abides.