Preamp Suggestions for hot-rodded Odyssey Khartago?
gochurchgo OP You can always send it back again, this time I would say to them "one more time as the first one was a lemon", to make sure "this ones spot on" or it will come back in a flash. I can understand at their amazing price point, things aren't bench checked before being sent out, to keep costs down to a minimum. Cheers George |
That's a shame
gochurchgo, I heard they did have a bad batch of Chinese tubes that were microphonic, but as you said it's the fet stage that would have been the one for your setup. I suppose you can look for a used Pass B1, trouble is they are 1kohm output impedance not 75ohms like the Schiit, with no dc servo and capacitor coupled, I always prefer direct coupled, with no capacitor in the signal path, to me the best cap is no cap. Cheers George |
gochurchgo OPNo not dumb, it’s said Odyssey’s are hi gain (low input sensitivity) this means they are the ideal candidate for a preamp with no gain, like a passive. But! the problem is they are only 25kohm input impedance which is not great for a passive preamp, you need at least 33kohm or higher for a 10kohm passive to be impedance happy. So what you need is a passive preamp with an active "unity gain" buffer, the closest I can think of commercially with trial period is the Schiit Freya preamp. at $699. designed and made by Mike Moffat of Theta fame. It’s 3 preamps in one with a very good 128-step relay volume control, remote control, xlr and rca inputs and outputs, Mode 1 passive with no gain Mode 2 Active discrete fet buffer, gain of 1 ( your most likely one) Mode 3 Active tube with gain of 5 And you can return it if no satisfied. http://www.schiit.com/products/freya "Mode 2" could very well be a copy of the Nelson Pass B1 buffer, as it’s also just a couple of fets and simple like this, but it "looks" as if Mike Moffat has gone a step better and dc coupled it, which is better, as I can see what looks to be dc servos around those fets with no coupling caps. Cheers George |
