Now those responses were exactly what I hoped for. Thank you all for adding your thoughts to a question no doubt addressed many times before. It is a question I asked in earnest.
There are several schools of thought going on this subject.
Active, Passive or Nothing.
Some contributors seem to be trying to justify the money spent on a preamp.Not ready to admit that perhaps they have only degraded their system.
Many feel Nelson Pass walks on water. I am becoming a disciple
myself after both reading the above quote George passed on
and seeing Steven Guttenberg's interview, Part 4, in Pass's home where he said his very customized 1960's Tannoy 15 Dual concentrics reveal more about his amplifier than any other speaker he has tried.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msE14...
I was advised to buy an Audible Illusions amp by my audio mentor Blake Hovecar. Recently I did. Retail was around $4,500. Mid-Fi I suppose. My reference point may be well below where some high brows posting here are but my mind is open to learn and this I have done, thank you all.
The whole question came to me when I sent the AI back to the factory
for a repair. I had a good 5 weeks of listening direct and though I am not 100% sure it sounded better but I am fairly certain it did not sound any worse.
Our group met with local genius Dan D'Agostino for an evening
in his new digs last April. We had an audition of his latest creation in Amplifiers. Dan made a point of telling us that if you set the volume too low on a source controlled by a preamp you will lose SQ. I believe
someone mentioned this above.
Thanks Again to All
There are several schools of thought going on this subject.
Active, Passive or Nothing.
Some contributors seem to be trying to justify the money spent on a preamp.Not ready to admit that perhaps they have only degraded their system.
Many feel Nelson Pass walks on water. I am becoming a disciple
myself after both reading the above quote George passed on
and seeing Steven Guttenberg's interview, Part 4, in Pass's home where he said his very customized 1960's Tannoy 15 Dual concentrics reveal more about his amplifier than any other speaker he has tried.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msE14...
I was advised to buy an Audible Illusions amp by my audio mentor Blake Hovecar. Recently I did. Retail was around $4,500. Mid-Fi I suppose. My reference point may be well below where some high brows posting here are but my mind is open to learn and this I have done, thank you all.
The whole question came to me when I sent the AI back to the factory
for a repair. I had a good 5 weeks of listening direct and though I am not 100% sure it sounded better but I am fairly certain it did not sound any worse.
Our group met with local genius Dan D'Agostino for an evening
in his new digs last April. We had an audition of his latest creation in Amplifiers. Dan made a point of telling us that if you set the volume too low on a source controlled by a preamp you will lose SQ. I believe
someone mentioned this above.
Thanks Again to All