Tube Research Labs Latest Dude Preamp

I think a few closing comments are appropriate. Paul made me this offer with no strings attached. After he contacted me I sent him a scathing letter questioning his motivation and making demands of my own. His offer stood even after all that. There was no quid pro quo here and he expected nothing in return. Actually says allot about the man. The decision to create this post was mine and mine alone.

Personally I'm sickened by this whole experience where others are feeling joy and exuberating. It was never my intention to squeeze anything out of TRL. This does bother greatly. I had to question myself in that what kind of a person would I be if I did not accept his offer?

I'm just chalking up the dire predictions about using a third party as nonsense. The people I talked to seemed genuine in there knowledge and in their desire to help and I thank them for that.

BTW I took opportunity to apologize to the previous thread owner for the gigantic distraction I created. I can't imagine what he now thinks about the TRL owner base. Myself included!

Don't know if we are geographically compatible but I did make an offer for him to have a listen to my new unit once it arrives. I felt I owed him at least that much. I'll do what I can to help in his quest for information and evaluation.

A few quotes from Paul regarding my new fully balance unit:

"The Dude now weighs about twice what yours does at 72#, the
balanced will probably be about 85-90#. "

"The balanced use a 4-deck Shallco 45-step attenuator with our TRL bearings on the
shaft. Also a 4-deck Shallco input switch."

"It uses a bigger tube (6080's) instead of 6sn7's for the active circuitry like in
our GTP6 introduced in 2003 so it'll drive low-impedance loads."

I think there are two configurations. If one needs the fully balanced unit able to drive low impedance loads its $1000.00 more than the single ended architecture I have in my unit. $5k until June 1st per the information Paul sent me. Please double check with the directly to confirm.

Hey Clio:

Sorry for the really late response. I’m working on a huge addition to my house that has been consuming my time. Got a 500 sq ft room I'm retrofitting for a new audio/office application out of the deal. Should be killer!

I'm clear on your responses in 1 & 2. Where I was going with question 3 is that in my situation i'm going from the Dude to a pro audio active crossover (DBX 260 to be specific). I'm hoping to have a better match between the +4bu pro audio device with the higher output of the 6080 tubes.

As far as the last post, I'm taking a wait and see approach. I should have the new unit in a few weeks. I'll let you know if I'm really into a 'dude' then.

I have a series of questions for the technical experts:

1) SE vs. Balanced. It’s a question of application rather than sound quality correct? In my case I have fully-balanced equipment on the input and output side driving the need for a fully-balanced unit.

2)Input component matching. The balanced Dude will handle much higher input. Probably 15 volts of input easily according to Paul. Does a higher voltage output on a cdp or dac equate to better sound in this case?

3) Output component matching. As I previously noted, my balanced Dude will use a bigger tubes (6080's) instead of 6sn7's for the active circuitry for my low-impedance loads. Paul asked if I needed this extra juice so they may still use 6sn7 in the base balanced version. Anybody have the scope on this?

I’m not seeing anything here that indicates a balance unit sounds better than the SE version but rather (like in my case) SE version can sound less that optimal for the wrong application.

Got my replacement Dude last week. It’s been a long but worthwhile wait. I have already spoken with Paul to thank him for not only replacing the unit but for working with me to provide the best possible configuration for my needs.

I really can't say enough positive things to describe how Paul handled this matter. Bottom line I was treated as if a new customer - and that says a lot given the status of my relationship with this company.

All previous documented issues around build quality and noise floor have been addressed. I gotta tell you this new balanced Dude is amazing. Yes it has many of the same wonderful characteristics as my previous generation Dude but its just dead quiet. The noise floor on this thing is so low all aspects of sound quality is bettered by a considerable margin.

It is however much better in terms of its neutrality and realism - something I thought not possible. The finesse and easy by which it reproduces music is simply stunning.