Rouge M120 With 99 or 66 Preamp

thanks

I have a 66 LSR with NOS Mullard CV-4003's and love it. I directly auditioned it (with stock tubes) against a BAT 3VKi and thought it was a close contest, the BAT being darker, but with a wonderful low end. I recently auditioned the 99 against that same BAT and the 99 blew the doors off the BAT. The BAT sounded veiled and strained compared to the 99. The setup included nice ancillaries: AudioPhysic Virgos, Classe Monoblocks, BAT CD. With the 99 in the system, I'd have to say my CD's sounded better than I have EVER heard them. I'm saving my hard earned ducats as we speak, because I'm moving on up to the 99! A further plus is Mark O'Brien's fantastic customer support.

hi plato, ya, i'm the guy w/the *alleged* impedance mismatch. re: the magnum upgrade, perhaps it's not official, but it's real, i paid real money for it. also, further upgraded my 99 w/nos ge tubes which helped a *lot* (line-stage only; i have an outboard fono-stage), but still not enuff for my liking. here's why i tink there was an impedance mismatch: Rogue sez the 99's output impedance is 100 ohms, I think it's a bit higher. My x-over's input impedance is 25kohms. This means there'd be potential impedance mismatch problems when a preamps' output impedance starts to approach 2.5k ohms. Well, I crossed a 2.2kohm resistor over the outputs when the 99 was plugged into my x-over, & there was an easily audible drop in the volume output, indicating at least a 3db reduction in volume. This indicates an output impedance of somewhere around 2kohms, a lot higher than rogue's claimed 100ohms. A similar test w/my cary preamp, rated at 800ohms output impedance, showed no reduction in volume w/the 2.2kohm resistor - it took a 1kohm resistor to reduce the volume by 3db, & this is consistent w/the cary's 800ohm output impedance rating. perhaps the rogue's extension is better w/amps (or crossovers) w/input impedances of 100kohms... regards, doug

By the way,you can buy a new 66,99,88 or M-120's with the Magnum upgrades.At this time Rogue isnt upgrading "older"models.Sedond did have a new magnum 99.He has posted about it several times in the past.

Sedond sold his 99 because he wasnt happy with the bass.I have BDR #4 under my 99 and invested in real good NOS tubes for the phonostage (Telefunkens) My bass is awesome,deep,tight and real sounding.The reviewer in the Oct. issue of Stereophile was quite impressed with the bass of the 66 he reviewed and gave the 66 a class B rating.Anyway,yes the 99 is a good leap ahead of the 66.Get a 99 and you will be blown away.Call Mario @ 914-421-0069.I promise he will give you the best deal around.Tell him Dave (tube rush) sent you.

Oh, Sedond, aren't you the guy who sold the 99 because of an alleged "impedance mismatch". I know that sound of the Rogue 99 is greatly improved (especially bass tightness)by using it with different feet, specifically #4 BDR cones. Also, according to Mark at Rogue, they are not offering any official *Magnum* mod. BTW, Tml2, I noticed a big difference between the 99 and 66. I liked the 99 much more in my system.

hi tm12, i know this is not what ya wanna hear, but i humbly suggest you try a cary slp98 - it bested my magnum-updated 99 in *all* areas. and, there's even further gains to be had w/their modified caps, which my unit doesn't have. that being said, i've replaced my cary w/something even better - *way* better, imho: a melos music director. these can be had used, for great pricing, due to melos' recent problems, but they are back in bizniz now, w/brant hedlund, one of their former engineers, having bought the company, & now offering service to melos owners. he hopes to be back in production w/product w/in a year. regards, & good luck, doug ps-the purchaser of my rogue 99 had a 66 prior - he emailed me to tell me it was *way* better than his old 66...