What Solid State PreAmp?

I've written a ton here on A'gon re JRDG. Guidocorona also has much to say. If you haven't already, you should search here for our comments and feel free to direct questions to us via email. Rod Tomson, proprietor of Soundings would be another good reference. His site is Soundings Site

The Jeff Rowland Design Group competes with all the preamps you've listed and only costs $2400. Look for the reviews around A'gon. It's too new for the paper mags.

Dave

06-06-08: Markwatkiss said:
"I'm also a tube guy,however,I've heard wonderful things about Jeff Rowlands Capri pre amp and it's a lot less than what you're looking to spend."

It's an all-new design for Jeff, taking advantage of recent op-amp developments and noise control techniques. Don't let it's small size and low cost fool you, this thing is SOTA. If you got mains power issues or simply want the ultimate in quietness, then add the PC1 Power Factor Correction unit to convert it to operate in DC.

Dave

Clio, exactly. I posed that question to Jeff when we visited his shop last week. The Critereon is his soon-to-be-released "statement" preamp. It will be battery powered.

The Continuum 500 converts any AC to pure DC and the PC1 in front of his devices like the 501 monoblocks and the Capri does the same thing. My question was, "Is there an advantage of one DC over the other." His response that the Critereon is a low current device and he already had developed a reliable, long-life battery system, so he used that.

The 312 stereo power amp and the Continuum 500 have PFC built in. The separate PC1 unit allows many (most) of his other products to benefit from the same technology. It's clearly a plus on all his power amps that can use it, because it stabilizes the draw on the AC, which can be quite violent when not modulated somehow. With low current applications your benefit will vary, depending on the quality of your mains and some other factors.

I think that getting into pure DC can't hurt, because of the noise floor being lowered and all grounding issues just go flying out the window.

Guido, now that you've had more time with the Capri/PC1 combination, do you think it's a positive in that application in your system with the 312?

BTW, there's a blog about our Rowland Factory Tour, including some discussion of Rowland's philosophies, at Soundings Blog

Dave

Audiofan12, please tell me about T+A. I heard their CDP and was very impressed. Other than the unfortunate name, that's about all I know about them. Who destributes in the USA?

Dave

Missioncoonery, yes I agree, but think about tube rolling a little bit. I've got a little single-ended, Class A headphone amp by Woo Audio. It's wonderful, BUT I can change it dramatically by simply changing the recifier tube, replacing my $10 Russion tube with a 1950s metal base Holland GZ34tube that ranges in cost between $300 and $700, IF you can find it.

The improvement is HUGE in my headphone amp example and it's still not as good as my Rowland SS. I don't see the "advantage" of tube rolling. You've got a high likelyhood of worsening your tone, not improving it. Why would you want to introduce such a big variable into your system??

It's one thing to roll tubes on my guitar amp, where the idea IS to color the sound, but on my high fidelity two-channel system I only want tubes that are "accurate" and "transparent", yet such a thing is hard to define, much less find.

Dave

Paulfobrecht said:

"...Defining/deciding what tubes are "accurate" is no different than answering the same question for transistors, op-amps, resistors, capacitors, etc...."

Agreed, but why then do people think it's an advantage to tube roll. I want my designer to use his decades of knowledge and pick the right parts for me and not have to worry about those part burning out and becoming unreplaceable.

My point is that tube rolling is NOT an advantage of tubes.

Dave

06-10-08: Larryi said:

"Manufacturers pick the tubes they put into new equipment based primarily on practical considerations -- cost, reliability of continued supply (meaning new, not vintage stock), and reasonably good sound...."

If I spent $10,000 on, say, an ARC Ref 3, I would expect the tubes to not be compromises, just like if I paid $18,000 for a Rowland Critereon, I'd expect Jeff to use the very best components.

How am I going to know more about tube selection than ARC??? It's their life's work, it's only a hobby to me. In many fields, I pay experts to make decisions for me when I don't have the time, inclination or knowledge to do it myself.

I don't want "reasonbly sound" from ARC or C-J, I want the best the designers know how to give me at a price point.

Once again, my point is, tube rolling capacity is NOT an advantage of tubes over SS, IMHO.

Dave

One last OT response (this thread is about SS pre-amps).

I'm saying that most of us audiophiles don't know as much about the "best" sounding tubes as the designers of the equipment. It's their lifes' work.

When I look for answers to a question about mortgage banking I'll usually look inward, toward my own decades of experience in the industry. If I don't know it, I know who knows it. OTOH, when I'm trying to reach sonic nurvana, I look to someone like Jeff Rowland, because he's dedicated himself to pursuing sonic purity for decades and he's a leader in his field.

With most SS designs the only thing users are likely to change are the power cord and interconnects. I think that's a positive. OTOH, there's a tube culture that advocates tube rolling almost any piece of equipment that they purchase. I don't see tube rolling as an advantage of tubes over SS.

BTW, I do hear differences between gear and have used my ears to lead me to some of the best gear AND designers. Still, there's no shame in putting trust in an expert, such as Jeff Rowland for instance. My ears led me to the man and the man reinforced the trust and the relationship. There's nothing wrong with that.

Have fun playing with your tubes...;-)

Dave

06-10-08: Mrjstark said:
"I agee with Larry on this one. My latest preamp is Dodd and tubes that it cam with were JJs new stock that sound like crap. ..."

Exactly my point. I prefer to buy something that would make the designer proud, not something he'd have to apologize for.

Dave

No offense taken Mrstark. Thank you for your concern.

At the risk of staying OT a little longer, I see where some people might really enjoy tweaking and twiddling. That's totally valid. Still, for every tweaker that gets great enjoyment out of tracking down the best tubes for his or her amp or preamp, there's at least one non-tweaker, like me, that just wants great sounding equipment right out of the box and doesn't want to do anything but listen to music for the next ten-years or so.

So, I'll stick by my guns, IMHO, tube rolling is not an advantage of tubes vs. SS, UNLESS you really have a need to do such things and it makes you feel good, then I say, "Have at it." ;-)

I'll admit, I tube rolled my Woo Audio WA6 headphone amp. So shoot me. I'm not proud of it. I did research for weeks over at head-fi.org and then searched for weeks for a reasonably priced tube and then I struck, only one. I'm pleased with my upgrade. Jack Woo makes no bones that he offers the amp with compromise tubes and other circuits in order to me his mid three-digit price point. He offers upgrades. The expense was small in proportion to the rest of my system and my headphone setup is a much lower priority than my speakers. Hence, I fell off the wagon just this once.

Dave

06-10-08: Audiofeil said:
">>but, it may be too revealing in some systems.<<

How can a preamp, or any product for that matter, be too revealing?"

My thoughts exactly.

I think he's saying that if your sources, ICs and speaker cables are not up to it, then you'll hear their hardness, haze and opaqueness even more clearly. Some would rather ignore reality rather than fix it.

Dave

Most of your room EQ is below 300Hz. 4kHz is actually quite high and useful for attenuating the hard edge of poor CDs or system shortcomings. Of course, anyone spending the money on a Mc-system would generally spend equivalent money on sources, ICs and cables to have a truly resolving system, not needing high frequency EQ, but some people DO like to mess with this.

Dave

Paulfolbrecht said:

"heck if the best sounding pres don't all seem to be valved."

Except, of course, Rowland.

Have fun playing with your tubes... ;-)

Dave

You'll never fix a bad recording with EQ. I just stay away from them. The vinyl and SACDs of Steely Dan are fantastic.

Dave