Teeteebid, please email me before buying based on your comments. I have an ad for some cables here and you can contact me through it.... |
The Dude is amazing and I have only compared to the Ref3 in a friends system. He had Coincident Total Victory V speakers, Bel Canto Ref 500 amps and a very nice analog front end.
The Dude just had more dynamics, scale, authority and overall ease. The AR sounded small in comparison if you will. |
The Dude costs $6000 and I am most confident it is as good....period. Love to compare as I would be shocked if it was not better. Price has almost nothing to do with this comparison. Now, I have listened to and compared many an expensive preamp to the Dude and am in a position to make this kind of statement. In other words, I have had the experience. |
Dragon Vibe, I am in Southern MN should you want to see and hear or compare to a pre of your choice. |
Dragon. See my feedback and understand I am a seasoned, experienced and rational aphile. The forum you speak of is a joke and the whole thing just not worth the time given to the keystrokes in this post.
The input impedance is 147k and call the builder Paul for whatever spec you must have. Paul has sold many, many of these Dudes and most just enjoy and don't spend time on posts etc....
These are built like a tank at just shy of 70 pounds with Duelund CAST caps, Shallco attenuators, solid core copper wire throughout, hard wired by Paul one at a time, a forest of large can computer grade capacitors in the power supply, high quality resistors, ceramic tube sockets, an incredible circuit developed by Paul, and a power supply more robust then most amplifiers regardless of cost.
The unit uses 6sn7 tubes and is also tube regulated. No fuses to muck up the signal, rather a very high quality circuit breaker as the on/off. Top quality Cardas connectors throughout. An absolute tank and glorious preamp.
Paul makes every one and he does not have a marketing department, web page consultant etc..... You pay for him, his design, his circuit with no pad for middlemen or marketing. That is why it is reasonably priced.
He can and will tell you more should you call him.
Lots of us Agoners own his stuff and would not deal with or be bothered with dealing with anyone or any piece of gear not top notch.
I hope to only be sure you look at all your choices in an educated manner. Some prefer to deal with large companies with no wait time and many people behind the scenes. I happen to like buying from small companies of one or two people. I find this is where brilliance and incredible value and be found. If I need to know something, I ask the man to designed and built it. No need for a fancy spec sheet or whatever.
In terms of seeing or hearing a unit you can call Paul to locate an owner near you. Lots of Dude pics on the net by the way. Even internals.
Have fun! |
They are also good preamps as you know Rx8man, but the Dude is so special I sometimes must let others know. I realize a potential buyer must be comportable buying from a small operation.
Dragon, forgot to mention that Paul makes Dudes to suit whatever needs you have. So Dudes have different inputs, outputs, tubes types etc... to fit what you want. This makes it impossible to print one set of specs as you can imagine. For example my Dude has two 6sn7 tubes per channel instead of one for more gain..... |
Dragon, you have many good choices given and I am sure anyone of the suggestions will sound quite good. In terms of your confusion with the email sent to you, well please consider a couple of things from the builders perspective.
Stating a small group of folks purchased the Dude is really not true or accurate. Actually many have been sold each year for several years, but most owners are music lovers not inclined to spend time here as I do. Your post also suggests just two people do his marketing ( pointing to me) when of coarse I am not at all their marketing arm, but simply an active and passionate audiophile who posts regularly on many subjects.
When you bring up things like scams, no internal pics, displeasure with this and that one can certainly understand the builders concern and caution.
Many preamps have no internal pics . You won't find any on the fine Coincident and many small operation products. This is common. In addition, it is common for a company not to loan out amps or preamps on trial that take one person weeks to make. My goodness how or why should a one man operation do this. Surely such an offer is not reasonable on a 70 pound labor of love that requires weeks of preparation.
Lastly, no I am not angry and certainly he has many, many owners besides me and other posters who love his gear and enjoy Paul's service. His world is far bigger then me and the posters here and I understand you would not know this. |
Abruce, let's make it happen for sure. Will be fun. Big blizzard right now! |
Teeteebid. The CAST will raise the performance in ways you don't think are possible. Congrats on your purchase. Please tell me the amp you are using and the input impedance of that amp. The coupling cap I used was .47uf and they are on sale at Parts Connextion. That value or .22uf works great with most amps and especially tube amps with input impedances of 100k ohms.
Feel free to email me and I can help you through the update. Not sure how experienced you are with soldering and this sort of thing. |
Ya who really cares about websites. It's about the sound and unless you
have heard, then perhaps your words are noise. The best speakers I
have heard are from a one man company with a website you would also
moan about - Intuitive Design. who cares. Don't buy if you need a good
website. Pretty simple.
Fact is you will miss some of the best sounding gear. I have heard gear
from awesome looking websites that make my ears hurt. Really? Websites
play no roll in the way gear sounds. |
John, I am in marketing and know the power well. |
John, I am in marketing and know the power well. |
Your opinions are all great and nobody is trying to win or lose. This is not a matter of sides or right and wrong. To make it into that is unfortunate and disappointing. I buy based on hearing and reviews and comments from other seasoned, well respected Aphiles. I have learned a great deal from this site and purchased the Dude, Duelund caps and many other "under the radar" joys because of the combined experience of posters. I hope I have done this for others through the years.
I wish you all a Wonderful Christmas. God bless! |
Westv12. I agree with you and love all of the service, advice and handling of the details I get with my small preamp builder. Priceless! |
