The Truth About Preamps
I once started an archived thread basically about this topic, check it out at Ever Perform A Preamp Bypass Comparision Test? if you are interested... |
I would echo the above and say that in your price range, you are probably better off spending money on the amp and cd player and going direct. I haven't owned the Miles, but the Wadias, of which I've owned several, are quite happy running direct to the amp. I haven't tried any $10k preamps yet but have used several very good ones in the $2-4K range and there is no improvement, if anything it's not quite as good as direct. The only issue is that you have to adjust the output voltage to your typical listening volume, which requires pulling the cover every time you want to change it. If it's adjusted properly, and you run near the top of the adjustable output range, there is no discernable loss of sound quality. |
>>I would echo the above and say that in your price range, you are probably better off spending money on the amp and cd player and going direct. I agree if you are not doing Lps. You have to give it a little thought so you don't have an impedance mismatch with the source or load.... but the results can be very good. I don't agree w/ above that the pre is where you should necessarily spend all your money or build your system around the pre with the "budget that is left over". The small signal in a pre makes noise a big factor (then again it always is) and things have to be done right. If you look at tube stuff the amp has to deal with power and the output transformer of a tube amp is critical and expensive. That amps top out at retail of 6k (Dave's comment above)is not true in my experience. At least with tube amps. Again, start with the amps output tranny. If you carefully spend about 5-6k for parts and Diy you get a very nice one. If your system is under 15k and cd only, this is the vast majority of systems (discount used price), I'd consider going without a pre. I checked out the Placette site above and I'm not familiar with their stuff but I think it is why I moved to DIY. If their prices are in the ballpark of Dave's post... geeeze. I only read the "details" page at that site but all they talk about is Vishay resistors (a couple bucks a pop), quality volume attenuators (they ain't that expensive) and proper source loading. Here is an article that talks about some of the basic issues. http://www.harmonicdiscord.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6576 The above is limited to tubes. Just mho. Sincerely I remain, |
