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TRL Dude Dilemna

Based on all the high praise for the TRL Dude preamp here and other sites, I took a chance and bought one from a local A-goner to see if it could displace an Air Tight ATC-2 preamp currently in my system. The two amps I currently use are a McIntosh MC-402 and Viva 845 SET Monos. It turns out that the Dude is not compatible with either amps due to an impedance mismatch. So I only got to hear the Dude in a compromised performance mode.
I was not quite wanting to give up on the Dude yet given everyone else's enthusiasm about its performance. I am considering the Samson monos as a natural match. I can convince myself that the Samson's could be better than the MC402..My real issue is that I would have to give up the Vivas. Not sure I can make the leap that a solid state amp will satisfy me as much as those SET Vivas. Then there is the leap of faith that I cannot hear the Samsons with purchasing them....
Has anyone replaced their SET amp with Samsons and remained satisfied with the decision? My speakers are the Green Mountain Audio Continuum 3 which are about 90db efficient with an impedance 6.5 Ohms, +/- 0.75 Ohms 150Hz to 20kHz. Thanks for your input..
tellefsen

Showing 14 responses by tellefsen

tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Charles1Dad,
The Viva's have an input transformer, and while the designer would not tell me the input impedance...he did say that a pre-amp with a high output impedance would not work well.

Jebe1,
I am located in Dallas. I do get to the Baltimore area frequently.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
I have been in touch with Paul and he has been very helpful. We talked about using something like Jensen transformers, but he does not like the sound of them. We discussed altering the input impedance of the amps..but when we found out that the Viva has in an input transformer, we ruled that out.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Grannyring,
I have also been thinking about the Atlas. I bought the MC-402 for when I use the system for home theater. It would be awesome if one amp could serve both home theater and two-channel...The Atlas also has the 12V trigger making it
home theater friendly.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
The Dude I have has one 6SN7 per side, but it does have larger caps. It is the newer chassis design.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Wow...thanks for all the good comments. In my fairly tale ending...I find some way to make the Dude and Viva's happy together by getting Paul to adjust the output impedance and then also get a pair of Samsons to replace the MC402......
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
The Viva's have a purity to the sound and a "thereness" to the sound that the McIntosh does lack. The Viva's also seem to go deeper in the bass, but lack some control in comparison.
It just is not practical to use them all the time and certainly not for home theatre duty...They give off too much light that washes on my projector screen..not tom mention the heat.
I find myself more transported to the performance with the Viva's...
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Agear...yes I am Norwegian...I find myself not consistent in what amplifier I prefer with my current setup (viva and mc402). I find that sometimes the type of music and more so my mood has an impact on what I prefer. If I am in a rock-out kind of mood I may prefer the power of the big mc402). I also have a pair of passive 15 inch Green Mountain subs that I drive with a Crown XTI-2000 amp that has a build in DSP. This lets me run the main speakers full range and bring in the pair of subs at 45-50Hz with whatever crossover slope I want....So I have many system permutations available to me to find that sound that satisfies me at the moment.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Grannyring,
I had Paul make a power cord for the Dude. I have not done that yet with the Samsons, but I do plan to.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
Just a quick update. I did get to borrow an Aesthetix Atlas amp for demo from a local dealer. It has a 450K input impedance. It was a very high performing combo...Clearly better than my Air Tight ATC-2/MC402 combo. Comparing to the Air Tight/Viva combo was a much closer contest. The Viva has that SET purity that the Atlas could not quite match...but the Atlas was very good in the areas of soundstaging, micro and macro dynamic, low volume detail.
If I could make the Viva work with the Dude it would be an easy choice. Maybe I try the Burson audio buffer as an experiement. It also still has me thinking about the Samson...
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
I got to spend some quality time with my Air Tight/Viva combo spinning vinyl this past Christmas weekend (Technics SP10-MKII/Basis Vector/Denon DL301 thru Tom Tutay tube phono). This combo just makes music and mostly lets me forget about the hardware. It makes me want to buy more records (a good indicator).
I think I am going to hang onto the Ddde a little longer until I find a way to demo an amp that can show its potential in my system. If there is anyone around Dallas with a pair of Samsons or D225 interested in "playing in someone else's sandbox", let me know. Thanks to all for your insights and thoughtful discussion.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
So after reading Chris Martens review on AVGUIDE of the Burson AB-160 buffer, I decided to give it a try. It definitely solved my problem with both the Vivas and McIntosh MC-402 working with the Dude. I just put it in the system this morning. It does seem to be a very transparent device as Chris Martens had indicated. I will report back after a more extended listening. I think this will let me keep the Vivas and look into the Samson amps as a replacement for the MC402
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
It is difficult to tell if the Burson is adding any coloration since I cannot just take it out of the chain . I am comparing it to the Air Tight / Mc402 combo
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
So I spent some time this past weekend listening to the Dude-Burson-Viva combo. While I cannot assess the impact of the inserting the Burson AB160 since the Dude is incompatible when it is directly attached to the Vivas. What I did determine was that the SET magic and "thereness" was still evident with the Burson in the mix. It seemed more dynamic than the Air Tight/ Viva combo...but that is probably the contribution of the Dude.
tellefsen OP
73 posts
 
An update on this old thread. I acquired a pair of TRL Samson amps about 5 months ago. I am loving the combination of the DUDE and SAMSONs. They do make music. I first hds the Samsons just sitting on the floor as I did not have two more amp stands. Ended up getting a pair of 3" Maple platforms from Dawn here on Agon...All I can say is that I have focused most of my purchases since then on music. A very good sign
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