2. amps-preamps
  3. 1293746922

Preamp or Not

System:
Speakers: B&W 802D
AMP: 2 Plinius SA100 MKIII used as mono
Preamp: Musical Fidelity need upgrade to BAT or Pass Labs?
Source: Arcam fmj CD37

I have bunch of other good equipment in my theater room. The above are my 2-channel audio only set up. I have been thinking of upgrading my pre and CDP because they have no XLR connections. They sound very good but I'd like to use the balance connections. I just found an Esoteric SA50 player which apparently can be connected to the amplifier directly, therefore, eliminating the need for a preamp.

Question:

Since I have a very high gain amp and some external distortion and noise issues, would I be better off with a preamp and a source or just go directly from source to the amps. If there are no setbacks with this kind of set up, I can eliminate one component and save some $ in the process.

I would love to hear from members with similar experience and/or familiar with Esoteric SA50.
espoverload
lak's avatar
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lak
4,579 posts
 
Espoverload,
I'd be curious to for you to report back to us any type of change you hear assuming to try a pair of the XLR interconnects.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Anticipating the sonic results of driving amps direct with a CDP/DAC is really a crap shoot I think. I have a Wadia 302CDP. It is not bright tonally speaking but so far with the amps I have connected it to the tone was clinical and it benefited from using it with preamps (I've used several different preamps and the Wadia always benefited.) Perhaps it needed the edges filed off a tad by a pre-amp. I wanted it to be otherwise, but not to be so. I think if you must have balanced channels and/or XLR connectors, and your fussy about tone, you're going to need to get a pre-amp. Too bad you can't get demo on a CPD that you might favor. Actually, if you could figure out which CDP you would like, performance wise, you could buy one. Then if it didn't work you could add the appropriate pre-amp to solve your problem. FWIW.
espoverload OP
14 posts
 
Thank you Newbee, 4est and all others with comments. I guess if preamp was not necessary for sound quality, everyone would use a CDP with volume control. I have a couple of decent preamps but both introduce distortion when connected to the amps. I think my distortion problem started when I sold a pair of very good gold and silver RCA interconnects. I am not sure if I had the noise before and didn't notice it or the cables I am using now are not as good. A passive preamp may do the trick as has been mentioned before, but I don't want to buy a bunch of new equipment and still have the distortion noise. So that's why I am asking members to provide me with their experience. So far I have learned a lot. I would appreciate any info on "ground loop", etc. It may be very obvious to most but I am in the dark when it comes to complex trubleshooting. Keep those great comments coming.
mihalis
61 posts
 
There are electrical reasons which make a preamp the better choice for most amps out there. I will try to elaborate some other time. However for your cable question, it is worth trying xlrs to see what is going on. It sounds more likely, however, that your preamp is either introducing or amplifying a noise that is already there (rather than the noise being picked up by your cables.) Maybe try the preamp with other amps to see if it makes a difference. If the amp has gain control drop it and see if that helps. It is of course possible that if you are running very long rcas they pick up noise but that would have to be fairly long cable runs...
booboobaer's avatar
booboobaer
62 posts
 
I have tried passive before and it does sound clear but thin in most cases. XLR was developed to reduce noise in very long runs of cables for bands. It works very well ask any band member of any clout if they use RCA and they will chuckle. I have a BAT VK51SE preamp and I have to say it is VERY quiet! The RCA cable was originally designed for tone arm connections (short lengths). I have had single ended cables and XLR both and I must say balanced is DEAD Silent. You can see my system and see that I am VERY serious about the sound. You can turn on the system and turn the volume to max without the cd playing of course and barley hear audible hiss from JM LAB Utopia tweeter at about two inches to my ear.
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