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My first tube preamp Manley jumbo shrimp

(my English basicaly sucks as it is my second language, so my apologies for any bad grammer or misspelling.)
Yes it is my first tube preamp and I love it! Or do I? Mostly I do because I upgraded the sound of my stereo at least by one level. My old preamp was bellas sound xlm ss and my current amp is parasound hca 1000a, speakers psb image t6. What I like about the Manley j. s. are great mids, pure with really great 3d imaging and velvet vocals (uncopareable to the bellas xlm). The trebles are more realistic warm and rich also uncompareable to the bellas. The low frequencies are as well more realistic I got rid of the rubbery sound bass which bellas produced. So even now I am satisfied. Generally the manley produce superb sound. There is only one "little" problem i have. The bass is not as strong as it was with the bellas especially the upper low frequancies are not as puchy as they use to be. There is one simple solution for this to switch back to bellas xlm but I dont want to sacrifice all the greatness which the manley offers to me. So the question is can i somehow improve the bass.
I definatly want to upgrade the amp. So this could be the way to get sronger and more dynamic bass perhaps. What do you guys think what power amp would suit well the manley and my speakers. Should I go with ss or tube? SS should have more bass extension and is more punchy as i read around the internet, correct me if i am wrong. Therefor i think i should stick with solid state amp. I was thinking about krell ksa 150 or mccormack dna1. Are there any othere amps I should add to my list which could improve low frequancies in my system? Also what else should i do to get more punchy bass?
rob26

Showing 2 responses by rhljazz

rhljazz
1,250 posts
 
When I have the Shrimp set up with either of my two amplifier speaker comibinations (see my sys page), I find the bass to be punchy. This is opposite of your experience. The bass does not have the weight or go anywhere near as deep as does the VAC preamp (no surprise there). The Shrimp is plain old fun to listen to IME and I don't find anything really lacking in bass drive or slam.

The input impedence of your Parasound is a bit on the low side at 33k ohm but that may not make a big difference. I use stock tubes but do use an expensive power cord. In fact, I've never played it with a stock type cord. So you could try a different cord.

Good luck, the Shrimp is an excellent product.
rhljazz
1,250 posts
 
I have only used the Nordost Brahma cord which I use through-out my system and a Nordost Thor power distribution box. I realize it is an expensive cord vs the price of the preamp but alas it is what I have and what I wanted as a cohesive mains unit.

Experimentaion on your part will be required. Brahma cords rarely appear on the preowned market.
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