Music First Audio Passive Magnetic Preamplifiers?

I have had the privilege to work with Masa Tsuda and Hajime Sato at THE SHOW in Las Vegas this year and at last years RMAF. I'll also be working with them at THE SHOW Newport. So I've spent a lot of time with the Concert Fidelity components (and as a side note I use the Silicon Arts Design trio of components).

Most who know me and my preferences know that I dislike active line stages. I've owned my share of them (Cary, Joule, Rowland, TRL) and had a number pass through my system that were loaned to me to audition. My end preference was to go the passive route. I've owned an S&B TX 102 MkI passive built for me by Kevin Carter, I built my own using Slagle autoformers, and I have the Lightspeed attenuator. About the only thing that rivals the purity of a well designed passive is a well designed zero gain active buffered preamp, of which I own The Truth from Ed Schilling at the Horn Shoppe and the Silicon Arts Design which uses some trickle down technology from the CF-080 (including the same volume control).

However, I will say that the CF-080 is really in another league when it comes to active line stages. Of course, it's price should qualify it as such, but we all know price isn't the whole story. The electronic volume control eliminates unnecessary contacts, wipers, and switches from the signal path. The signal path itself is extremely short, such that the board is mounted on the inside back plate of the chassis and tubes are accessed from the rear panel on the preamp. Masa Tsuda is all about simplicity in his designs (the DAC is NOS) and his designs are quite creative (his solid state amps are a good example). This is definitely one active line stage I can live with. I could certainly regurgitate all the superlatives to describe my listening impressions, but suffice it to say I've been tempted and just may have to pull the trigger on one come June.

Exactly Clio09, best active line stage I have listened to to-date :)

Anyone have any experience with the Atma-Sphere MP1 preamp? Just wondering how this compares with other preamps mentioned on this thread. It's output transformerless and has no output coupling capacitor. Triode class A design with outboard power supply, balanced differential design. It's volume control is made of hand assembled resistors. Never heard a bad thing about this preamp so far.

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.

No disrespect to Agear, but anytime one uses words like "massacre" and "everything else 'sounded like HiFi'" is suspect. What may sound great in one system may not sound so good in another. At least, that's been my experience.

Agear (Brian Weitzel / Jack Seaton) it's ok... I know you want to support you brother Paul but to say that his 35k GTP4 was a mistake now that others have supported my findings is going to tick a lot of customers of that unit off.

Either way, we all have our own tastes and likes. For me..., the MFA and CF units smoked the TRL GTP4 which according to Paul (or rather what youve reported  your brother as having stated)  was a mistake in the making thus perhaps proving the statement I made in the first place. I know nothing of old unobtanium 230 pound preamps :) I have seen that unit before as i believe one was offered on Agon about a year ago back or so. 

I also remember Paul telling me that the GTP2 was better than that unit. 

But hey again I started this thread to talk about my listening impressions of some very fine very modern preamps. Trust me guys the ARC Anniversary the Concert Fidelity the Karan and the MFA are absolutely world class.

There goes Andrew "helping" his friends again. LOL.

I'm glad I didn't fork over a boat load of money for one of those upper level TRL preamps only to later have it referred to as flawed, or the GTP-4 only to find that another TRL preamp costing significantly less smoked it. If past vs. present TRL product comparisons as Mr. Gear represents them are any indication what can Dude owners expect in the future?

Perhaps the best thing you can do to help your friends Andrew is to not say anything at all. We all know what happened the last time you intervened on behalf of TRL.

Andrew's posts do have a similar ring to the old Jes45 posts (although I was told by someone close to TRL that its not the case, and for now I'm taking him at his word that it isn't). However, when you read some of this stuff you can't help but wonder if perhaps Audiofun is on to something.

You think?

My Baby Ref arrived yesterday 8/1/2012 and right out of the flight case it sounded wonderful. I know that Harry did some burn-in for me at the factory for which I am grateful. I have put about 20 hours on the b-ref at this point. Early comparisons to the ref reveal the b-ref to sound slightly sweeter but not quite as detailed/mature. The ref is very detailed while still being a full bodied and beautiful sounding pre-amp. I have no doubt that as the b-ref burns in it will settle down and develop all the detail that the ref displays. Please don't misunderstand, the b-ref is very very very detailed and sounds absolutely stunning, but the ref probably has over a 1000 hours on it at this point therefore it is very settled.

I am profoundly happy with my purchase of the b-ref because as you all know it is not an inexpensive piece of gear. If you have been dreaming of the refs sound but can't or don't want to swing for the extra coin.., I can honestly say you will NOT be missing out on anything sound-wise should you opt for the b-ref.

I will be back with more information after the b-ref has about 3- 500 hours on its coils :)

I own one and love it  my MUSIC FIRST AUDIO V-2 but if anyone tells you it’s a performer with lower powered amps they are not being very honest or they cannot hear ....this preamp is incredible but needs at least 50 watts of amplifier power to sound good it is killer with my atma-sphere m-60’s or my ultra incredible 6c33c mono block triode quicksilver or my new 60 watt quicksilver kt88 mono blocks but no way with my audio note 8 watt interstage c core mono block 300b’s at 8 watts or my quicksilver 2a3 mono block 3.5 watt’ers. I’m using the incredible CHARNEY EXCALIBUR COMPANIONS WITH VOXITIV AC2.6 @ 104dB/watt which is helpful as it does not function as well nor is appropriate with my Merlin speakers