Preamp shootout: Joule, CJ, BAT

Yes, Bryceeboy, you are hearing synergy - which is a good thing. Also, Karsten is very high on balanced, even believes cable irrelevant in his balanced configuration, which, of course doesn't mean that's true (its not), but means that Karsten's pieces are "voiced" for that connection and, particularly, to each other. Try to go to balanced if you can. I loved the MP-1 for a lot of the same reasons as the Joule, but it was darker, even with VTL amps. Nice space, though; phono was ravishing. I haven't heard the MP3. One thing people don't know about the Joule: its dynamically compressed without a power cord that juices it. This was a problem with MkI Joule (compressed & remote; PC wouldn't help), less so with Purist wire in MkII, and alleviated by higher output tube sub in Mk III. Electraglide FatBoy transforms Joule MkIII's dynamics and puts this pre in those upper echelons in that regard. Yes, Jud & Marianne are saints. A quality not to be diminished when looking to buy.

No, not selling anything. My yahoo account seems to be screwed up. Thanks for letting me know. I've told them and maybe will have it fixed (I think they've laid off so many people in that unit in this economic downturn that they may have sabotaged accounts!) I agree with Asa. The power cord has to be bigger--and the owner's manual suggests trying one. I found any cord, just any HUGE cord does the trick. One thing I forgot to mention is that the remote is excellent piece of engineering. DIGITAL internal remotes (which is how most manufacturers do it....Levinson, Krell, etc) causes subtle degradation of the sound....all my techie friends say the mechanical way used by Joule eliminates it.) It now comes stock with purist wiring (used to be an added cost) and it is an absolute steal. There are tons of equipment junkies out there (I'm recovering junkie myself) who sell whatever they own, just because they (me too) have some extra cash and just need a new "fix"--it has nothing to do with the actual quality of the equipment. I know. I had a perfect sounding system 2 years ago and sold for no real reason, except the desire to own something new. Take advantage of us nuts and don't hesitate for a minute buying certain items. I read a post here yesterday from a member who sold his Meridian 508 and never got the magic back in his sound. He mentioned Paul Seydor's praise of the Meridian 508 as the best redbook player. Period. It's in the current issue of Absolute Sound under his recommended system. I did the exact same thing! Sold it. Bought a Dodson. Traded it. Bought a Sony SACD. Sold it. Bought a Micromega. Sold it. Bought a Perpetual. Sold it. (Not to mention the Mephisto, CEC transports, etc.) Swallowed my pride and went out and bought another Meridian after talking to them to see if I should buy the NEW Meridian or the "old" 508. They unhesitatingly (shocking for a manufacturer!) told me that the 508 was better and only discontinued because they couldn't source the transport mechanism, but that it represented the pinnacle of what they could achieve in digital. Period. I bought and I'm keeping. The magic is back. Proves that there are some good bargains under the $4000 range. In fact, if you pay attention to serious posters instead of instigators around here, you could easily assemble a Hall of Fame system used/as new from equipment whores: Meridian 508, Merlin VSMs, Joule electronics. And leave everyone looking for audio nirvana by mismatching components from companies that are barely in business! (My Perpetual was so cranky, for example, and the build quality not up to snuff, that I doubt this company will last any longer than their previous incarnation as Audio Alchemy. Yes, I was stupid enough to read the hype and bought that stuff too, once upon a time. Junk and no customer support. Similarly, my CEC from Audio Advisor, try to get that one fixed. No parts in stock. We're waiting on that part from Malaysia. Yada, yada, yada. ) Stick with the classics whose owners you can talk to! Even though they argue with you a bit when you tell them something is wrong at CJ, they do repair it, though bills are high. For customer support Joule, Merlin has a fabulous rep, PS audio does too, Mesa Baron has incredible support, the old CAL--Arthur's original company, etc. ARC was good on the phone (they hired CALs tech guy) though like CJ repair was expensive. I wish more posts on customer support and the bills you get for repair.

PS There is another thread here in digital where Meridian told another couple of posters the same thing. Wow! How unusual a company to tell the truth over marketing a new product with hype of "bigger, stronger, faster, etc."

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You should be writing for a magazine! Much practical wisdom here. And than you Asa too. Great information from the experts instead of these two line posts where someone says my Khorus are greatest ever. I don't even think some of these people even own the equipment like the old idea at AOL where a 89 year old guy pretends to be a 16 year old girl.

Great post. I've spent a lot of time with these units and I think you encapsulate the differences very well. At the end of the day, I decided on the Placette active linestage over the Joule or the BAT because it worked best with my particular setup, particularly in that I am emphasizing high resolution digital on the front end (including SACD).

Macinman, which is the "old" Meridian model and which is the new?