Preamplifier: Yes or NO ?

hi 9rw, i thought you gave up the hobby.

i meant color, not "solor". yes you are correct. there is no proof. as i have said before all staements dependent upon perception are anecdotal and hence opinion--yours, mine and anyone else.

i appreciate that you remind me what i have said in the past.

why is one opinion more or less useful than another ?

my preferences do not preclude me from honest evaluations.
i have no reason to misrepresent.

what one listens to in the privacy of one's listening environment does not benefit me in any way. i am not an audio dealer and i have no ego.

"I have no ego"

ROTFLMAO. If you have no 'ego' why do you argue or justify you posts when folks either denegrate you or your opinions. In truth I sense a huge ego lurking in at least your sub-conscious.

I find it facinating and yet cannot understand why you persist in posting about your personal audio preferences in an 'audiophile forum'. You are certainly intelligent enuf to understand that these opinions are clearly not representative of/or relative to the goals of folks buying equipment here.

It's as if you do it only to goad folks into responding negatively to you and/or your posts. But why would you do that? I guess I've have to get out some of my psych texts.

Thanks, Newbee. The fact Mrtennis continues to post here is baffling. Maybe he likes the abuse.

Actually, Mrtennis, some opinions are indeed more useful than those of others. Yours, for instance. You have to establish some credibility before people care what you think about components. And, no, I have not given up this hobby. Music and the equipment used to reproduce music have been dear to me for more than 30 years. I've let countless others take you to task for some of your moronic posts. Some of your more recent posts, however, have actually been more in line with what we try to accomplish through the forum. They've almost come across as being, dare I say, genuine, instead of merely being designed to provoke.

For being a "writer" and "reviewer," it's amazing how careless you are when it comes to spelling. It tends to undermine the points you're trying to make.

it seems to me that an audiofile forum is a place where perosnal opinions and preferences are raised. in fact, people express their attitudes about many things.

newbee, you ask a good question and you are straight forward. i like that.

i will try to answer the question regarding presentation of opinions which are diametrically opposed to the "conventional wisdom" and opposed to many who read and post their opinions in this forum.

first, i am an independent thinking person and by nature, somewhat iconoclastic.

i have had a lot of experience listening to a variety of stereo systems. as such, i have some very strong opinions.

my central hypothesis is that most stereo systems are imbalnced, with too much energy in the region 1000 to 3000 hz.

yes, this is an opinion. i can't prove it any more than somewhat who disagrees with me.

i am trying to have a civil discourse with people who disagree with me. it is unfortunate that some take my comments personally. it is only audio--material things.

as to the ego. i have strong convinctions and am willing to assert them. i do not benefit in any way from the decisions and attitudes others may have regarding topics of an audio nature. if someone agrees with me and buys something, i do not gain. in fact, i may not even be aware of such a purchase.

i have a lot of schooling beyond college and have a philosopical bent. i guess you could say i like to debate.
debating and discussion keeps my brain cells from atrophying, so i guess i should thank you for keeping me on my toes.

you can draw your own conclusions as to whether or not i have an ego, beyond what what would be construed as a normal sense of self.

i hope this clears the air.

Okay... I have Wadia 861 and Emm Labs Dcc-2. I have the Audio Research Ref II mk II, Krell KRC-HR and MBL 6010D so I can speak with some authority on this. I have ever tried to run the internal volume controls direct to the amp. Theoretically, one less cable, one lesselectronic box should certainly make the sound more true to the source. Alas, in this as in many audiophile things, I have found this not to be the truth. The internal units have generally no gain, and many CDs will require a bit of gain, these volume controls are generally attenuators, not variable gain controls. For instance, Grover Washington Winelight would not play loud enough without a real preamplifier. Elduende, I agree with you that without a preamplifier the Wadia 861 at least lost body. I added the ARC Ref2 MKII and got added body, and more rounded and full sound, a more "lifelike" event. Additionally a preamp allows me to adjust the balance between channels for better soundstaging, etc. My next revelation was just recently. I was running the dcc-2 direct to a tube amp and JMLab Alto Be's. for two years. I kept thinking the tube amp needed biasing or something, as piano sounded incredibly distorted, edgy, and basically seemed like it was dynamically overwhelming the amp, or so I thought. I purchased MBL101e's and noticed the same thing, and replaced the driver tubes on the amp as the bias was dead nuts on. It made no difference and in fact the distortion and edgyness sounded worse on the 101e's. My dealer inserted the MBL 6010d in the system, and suddenly there was no distortion, the music was much more of a whole, and much more of an event. The soundstage deepenned. The whole system was transformed even more than when I tried solid state monoblocks vs the tube amp, which is what lead me to try the preamp. I bought the preamp on the spot. Adcom makes a preamp that was rated Class A by Sterophile though. I had it in a second system, and it had a bypass switch, to just end up with a passive attenuator. The thing to me sounded like crap compared to the "bypass" position, it was an eye opening experience. So perhaps trying a passive device might be your cup of tea. Additionally some recordings are out of phase, generally preamps have a phase button so that one can fix the problem. I might have been totally satisfied with the Alto Be's if I had tried a preamp first sad to say.

Cheers,
Chris