I have a CJ Classic 2 SE pre-amp and I love it man. Good luck, and buy used ;)
What preamp creates the largest soundstage?
I have always loved a large soundstage. I have a small listening room (10x10) and have mini-monitors, driven by a tube amp. I have played a lot with speaker placement, room acoustics, listening position to create a large soundstage. I have rolled tubes on the amp and made dramatic improvements. (I have purposely left details on the brands of tubes, amp and speakers out, because I don’t want side comments to distract from my question)
i have a digital source into a solid state naim preamp. I home demo’ed a well reviewed preamp, and was surprised at how much the soundstage shrunk, both side to side and top downward. It was deeper, and did have much of the tube magic, but I could not live without the big soundstage.
so my question is, does anyone have experience with a preamp that produces a big soundstage? I am looking for recommendations on what to demo next. While I lean toward tubes, I am open to solid state. I am okay either new or used, and could spend in the 5k range, but would be happy to spend less. Also comments on specific brands (i.e. xyz is known to have great soundstage in all their preamps) as opposed to models, are welcome.
and I will be the first to admit that perhaps the very large soundstage is not “accurate”to real music, but boy is it seductive and I love it and can’t live without it.
i have a digital source into a solid state naim preamp. I home demo’ed a well reviewed preamp, and was surprised at how much the soundstage shrunk, both side to side and top downward. It was deeper, and did have much of the tube magic, but I could not live without the big soundstage.
so my question is, does anyone have experience with a preamp that produces a big soundstage? I am looking for recommendations on what to demo next. While I lean toward tubes, I am open to solid state. I am okay either new or used, and could spend in the 5k range, but would be happy to spend less. Also comments on specific brands (i.e. xyz is known to have great soundstage in all their preamps) as opposed to models, are welcome.
and I will be the first to admit that perhaps the very large soundstage is not “accurate”to real music, but boy is it seductive and I love it and can’t live without it.
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OP: There are a lot of preamps that will create a nice 3-D soundstage. I prefer tube preamps as active devices for doing this, such as an Audible Illusions Modulus preamp. But I’ve had dB Systems active transistor preamps do a great job with creating a nice 3-D soundstage. And my Teo Audio Liquid Pre passive preamp does an admirable job as well. The bottom line is that a lot of preamp designs will serve you well in this regard. |
I own the Schiit Saga, only 349,00 Has a single tube: stepped attenuators, can run passive too. I’m very happy with mine running into a Linn LK140. With a 15 day restock policy you are not locked in,,except for small restock fee. I’m a professional musician,I know live sound for 50 years, The Saga May surprise you. Also I’d be interested in knowing what interconnects you use. In my experience interconnects play a big part in “soundstage “. I can hear the groans now LOL. I roll my own and have spent many 100’s hours listening to wire. I also really like Franks Signal cable silver Ic,s and silver speaker wire. If we’re discussing soundstage or clarity wire unfortunately remains the weakest link. IMHO. |
Atmosphere- is the mp-3 balanced only for input and output? Can I use RCAs?@meiatflask You can use RCAs. The MP-3 (and also our MP-1) is fully balanced and differential from input to output. Because it has differential inputs, it doesn’t care if the source is balanced or not. So its equipped with two monitor inputs that employ RCA connections. Additional RCA connections can be optionally added in parallel with the two Aux inputs and the phono input. Additionally, RCAs are optionally available for the outputs. A switch is then provided to switch from single-ended to balanced operation. The outputs of these preamps are direct-coupled using a patent we developed, which is the only other way other than using an output transformer to meet the requirements of the balanced line standard (AES48). A nice side benefit is the direct-coupled output is more transparent with greater bandwidth both top and bottom. |
I have a c-j Classic 2SE and love it too... I have found that with all my sources, DAC , and Vault 2i having remote volume the lack of remote on the Classic is not really such a big deal... this pre checked all the boxes for me. Simple, just volume , source , and power switch. Sounds phenominal, I auditioned mine in a $50k plus system and it was right at home with much more expensive gear downstream. A few days after I got it I contacted C-J on a Friday night , Saturday morning I got an email from Dr Lew Johnson thanking me for choosing c-j and he went on to say in his opinion the Classic 2SE was one of the biggest bang for the buck products they’ve made. He gushed like a proud Papa. They are a good value on the used market . |
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