What can you tell me about First Sound pre-amps?

I am the guy who wrote the post to which Mphnkns referred. I do think the FS is a wee bit on the bright side and it may not be as smooth as other preamps, but I STILL think it is at top, top-notch performer and overall, maybe the best that I have ever heard. It took well over a year for me to find out how good the F.S. was. Let's just say that I find the F.S. unbelievably sensitive to tubes and I didn't do much tube rolling with it until I sent it back to Seattle for the 2004 upgrade. I am still trying to find a tube to cure some or all of my "complaints", but more about that later.

The beauty of the F.S. is in the transparence and the clarity and the absence of veils, haze or fuzziness- the electronic artifacts that you don't notice until they're gone. The incredibly low noise floor leaves others behind in the musical details which it reveals. The dynamics on this preamp are outrageous, but it never sounds false or artificial, as if they were there just to impress us. Female vocals are exceptional, delivered in a very intimate, up-front, close-miked way. It is not a subtle, refined presentation, but one which often borders on the aggressive, and I mean this in a good way. If you like female jazz vocals and you want a very high resolution CD which will show you what the F.S. can do, I recommend DeeDee Bridgewater's Dear Ella. Another extremely high resolution CD is Marian McPartland's 85 Candles. This one has vocals as well as plenty of instrumentals from stars of the jazz world past and present. Each CD ranges from the intimate to the aggressive, but the F.S. is never laid back on either CD and it delivers that you-are-there transparence.

Do I think the F.S. is a little hot? Yes, I do. It will jump at you (ring) on certain piano notes. Is it the smoothest linestage that I have ever heard? No, it is not. I hear a significant mid-bass peak despite the various tubes that I have tried (Siemens 6922, Telefunken 7308 and Siemens 7308). The upper mids are a little sharp. I wouldn't call it lean-sounding as the middle mids are quite smooth and the unit does deliver a lot of bass-maybe even a little too much. The very solid bass does nicely balance that slightly aggressive upper-mid area. So, although I wouldn't call it lean, I do hear what Mphnkns hears and I would call it a flaw, but it is one which I am willing to forgive, because of all the things which this unit does exceptionally well.

I would also point out that the rest of my system, perhaps save the Theta DAC, I would call it neutral although would call it laid back: Vandersteen 3A Sig speakers, Pass Aleph 4 Amp, Theta Generation Va Dac and Micromega T Drive transport. I usually cannot tolerate bright sound at all, so the fact that I find the F.S. a little on the bright side but I still love it says a lot for F.S. I have the F.S. Presence Deluxe Mk II 4.0 with two heavy duty power supplies. I also have a CAT SL-1 Ultimate which I still use from time-to-time. The cabling is JPS Superconductor (the original) from pre to power, Kimber 4TC shotgunned biwire on the speakers, Kimber PBJ from Dac to preamp and Ensemble Digiflux between transport and DAC. I use two Shunyata Sidewinder II power cords based on Emmanuel's recommendation.

So, I have embraced the FS, even though it is not perfect. It is right up to the limit of what I would tolerate in upper-midrange sharpness, but this is balanced by its unbelievable dynamics, clarity and transparence. I would try to work with this one rather than give up on it. The things that it does right are very hard to find in other products.

Thank you Eps, but the cables which I have chosen work very well in my system. They are not bright and I have compared them against megabuck cables from Siltech, Purist Audio, Marigo Labs and NBS, I will stick with what I have. The only cable which I can't really vouch for is the Shunyata, because I really haven't experimented with power cords on the F.S. Also, with my CAT pre in the system, it is never bright. Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining at all about the F.S. because I love it, but at least in my system, it IS the cause of what I hear.

Hi Art,

No deal! I am keeping them both. If you search my threads, you will see where I have pontificated on the CAT many times before and even compared it to the F.S. I'll sum it up for you quickly:

1. CAT is warmer and smoother with a more of a "middle of
of the hall" sound.
2. CAT has deeper bass (in my system). See Morgan's
comment about the high impedance F.S. matched with
low impedance Pass Aleph series.
3. CAT's midrange is a little bit more laid back and is
more full, ripe and lush. One thing the First Sound is not is lush. I wouldn't say the CAT has a lot of tube
bloom, but it is certainly more bloomy than the F.S.
4. CAT has the second best dynamics which I have heard in
a preamp. Guess who is first?
5. CAT is less detailed than F.S., but surprisingly has a
lot of high frequency detail to my ear. Although not bright, the CAT will do a great job at the extreme high end in revealing overtones, if the rest of your system is up to the task.
6. F.S. is dead quiet, while the CAT has an almost imperceptible, but still noticeable, high frequency hiss.
7. They are about equal in soundstage.
8. F.S. has better imaging. Definition of boundaries of instruments in the soundstage is better. Placement of instruments in soundstage is more diffuse and more difficult to localize with the CAT.
9. CAT is very clean sonically but has nowhere the transparence of the F.S. Only in direct comparison can you hear the difference in clarity and transparence. As good as the CAT is: neutral, natural and musical, it does not impart the "you are there" quality to the same degree.

Which one you pick will depend on your tastes and,I guess, which best matches the rest of your system. In my opinion, you couldn't have two class A products which sound more different. I am keeping them both!

Hi Morgan,

In 2003, after owning the F.S. for a few months, Emmanuel emailed me, due to things that I had written here on Audiogon about the F.S. Although, I never trashed the F.S., it was evident that I wasn't completely happy. One of the first things that came up was impedance mismatch. I asked him what could be done, short of getting rid of the Pass Amp or the F.S. He basically said that nothing could be done. Also, I corresponded with Drubin, who is also involved with this thread and who had a Pass X series amp at the time and who was hearing a lot of what I was hearing at the time. I believe Drubin and I got into the subject when he started a thread with the title of something like
"what is the Sound of an Impedance Mismatch". I believe the sound is rolled-off deep bass, reduced dynamics and perhaps somewhat rolled-off highs, but I am not sure about the last thing. I definitely have rolled-off bass, and the dynamics were ordinary until I discovered Siemens tubes, which turn the dynamics to anything from outrageous to just superb, the Siemens 6922 with the outrageous dynamics and the Siemens 7308 with just superb dynamics. With Telefunken 7308's, the overall sonic presentation of the F.S. is quite ordinary. I haven't heard that brightness is a consequence of impedance mismatch, though. Emmanuel suggested several things:
1. Cabling, including power cabling.
2. Whether the F.S. is plugged in directly to the wall or is powered via a power conditioner/power strip
3. Checking polarity. Making sure that speaker cables invert polarity in order to "correct" inverted polarity of the F.S.

It is through these contacts with Emmanuel, that I bought the Shunyata Sidewinder Gold power cords and eventually got the unit upgraded at the end of this year.

I think that is more likely that I am hearing the character of the F.S., at least through my own listening prism, which is probably less tolerant of bright sound than most people. Certainly the F.S. would never be described as unlistenably bright by anyone whom I would respect for their sonic opinions, but I wanted to corroborate Mphnkns, who seemed a little frustrated with the unit, that others hear what he hears, even if we don't see it as a fatal flaw. Artg also seems to agree. I wouldn't want mine changed either, for fear of losing what it does so well. Instead, I'll just use the other preamp sometimes, until I can afford to put together a second system around the CAT.

Thanks, Drubin!

Hi Art,

Now you've got me interested! I have always wanted to know about the Mk II and what it sounded like relative to the Mk I. Since I have a Mk I, your experience might differ somewhat, but I love the Telefunken 6922's in the V6 and V7 position, Telefunken 12AX7 in the V8 and V9 position and a Telefunken 6DJ8 in V10. If you don't use phono and your unit has a phono section, you can economize with the tubes in V1-V5. Otherwise, use the same tubes in V1-V5. If the cost of this tube substitution is too expensive, you can either leave or acquire the stock EI Yugo 12AX7's. They are not bad at all. But do replace the stock Sovtek 6922's. With Telefunken, you will get deeper bass, better dynamics, and better extension in the high frequencies. As far as the Mark I is concerned, I have tried many tubes in the CAT Ultimate, particularly in the V6 and V7 position, and I doubt that you will find better than the Telefunken 6922. With other NOS tubes that I have tried, you are bound to lose something

I hope they work for you in the CAT. I have found tubes which work in the F.S. often don't work in the CAt and vice versa. I would, if I had any money left, compare them to the Telefunken 6922.