2. amps-preamps
  3. 190801-167141

Need new pre amp

Back in 1992 I bought a new bryston 4b sst amp and a linn pretek  preamp my preamp gave out and the left channel is toast. Now i have a rel s/510 and a pair of dyn audio special 40 speakers . Now I have a linn lp12 sondeck turn tabel with a linn adikt  cartridge  I play a lot of vynal as well as stream quobus or listen to my cd's I have a tascam ss-cdr1  and a blue tooth reciever that picks up from my phone and sends it to the preamp now am I best to have the preamp repaired or go with a new preamp. And do I go tube or sold  state I am looking for a warm organic sould because of vynal and if I go new pre amp I want xlr out to the amp at least 2 xlr inputs 4 rca analog input and 2 digital inputs phono input would be nice but not required  I can get a phono preamp  if needed thank you Mal11963 

mal11963
mm1tt77
157 posts
 

My set up has gear designed to be used fully balanced, my pre, DAC and Amp are all truly balanced and everything sounds better when I have everything hooked up using the balanced input / outputs.  I agree that if home equipment isn’t designed to be fully balanced you don’t necessarily get better performance, sound but when it’s specifically designed to be truly balanced it’s beneficial and synergistic to have fully balanced equipment throughout the chain. 
 

There are a lot of options on Pre’s that meet the OP’s requirements, especially when looking at Solid State pre’s.  You can find fully balanced Tube pre’s but they aren’t as common.  
 

Good Luck! 

wsrrsw's avatar
wsrrsw
1,005 posts
 

The Spatial Audio Raven Preamp may tick all your boxes.  Two XLR and two RCA outputs. It’s fully a balanced unit. 

effischer
560 posts
 

A couple of others here have mentioned McIntosh, and I also feel you should check out what might be available. C2700 has everything you could want in one box with one of the best tube phono sections out there. C52 would be the solid state version and includes EQ.

I run an older C50 to a pair of 7B SST2 with Mogami Gold XLR cabling throughout. It supports 2 turntables, a TASCAM digital recorder and McIntosh MVP-881BR universal disc player. Very satisfied with the rig.

Good luck & happy listening!

plaw
86 posts
 

@ronboco 

I saw Wilsons, Maggies, and the surprise was Acora speakers being driven by their new high power tube amps.   There were some other speakers, but they were not ones I was interested in so I didn't pay attention.   They also had some Klipsch K-Horns (not sure of the vintage).   I owned the corner horns when I was a kid, driven with crap electronics, they made me feel nauseous because we played them so loud.  Brought my friends over because they were big and loud.  I didn't want to listen to them ever  again.

ronboco
839 posts
 

@plaw 

Thanks for the reply. I have Rockport speakers and was just wondering if they were on your list. I saw the big Wilson’s at Axpona a few years ago and they also had ARC gear. Valerio Cora is the owner of Acora and he recently bought ARC so it would make sense he would use ARC with his speakers. 
 

Regards 

Ron 

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