jeez, carl, i only contributed to this thread cuz of actual experiences i've had w/preamps, which may (or may not) benefit some of the readers, & all i get back is defensiveness & ill-will. of *course* i'm speculating about your preamp - DOH! hard *not* to, as it seems to be such a secret. here's some of *your* exact quotes, all speculative: "I'd also lay odds that you don't really think much of the rest of my equipment, either."..."Perhaps we are all biased by what we like, but I submit that my system is radically more transparent than most, because I know how to set up a room acoustically."..."I haven't seen the specs on the particular ceramic midrange that is in the Kharmas (it's not Accuton, it's supposedly much better), but I can tell you that the Accuton ceramic drivers are not any faster than the Esotar mid."..."One thing I will not stand for, are those individuals on here who are just looking to argue with me about this product line. I know what I hear, and I don't care what any of you hear...especially if you (or even your claims that the designer) thinks this product sounds better through a separate linestage. That's about as wrong as it gets."..." I doubt the Dynavector "blows away" the BPS, but I haven't heard the Dynavector. If you wanna hear "blown away", you need to spend more IMO."..."How do I know that you are even telling the truth, firstly? I've compared the Phonomena to the latest version of the Black Cube, and the Phonomena was much more accurate, more musical, more dynamic, far had less ss "false edge", and was far better able to fine tune the capacitance and resistance loading...besides the gain. Frankly, I resent dealers (or "claimed former dealers" honking that they've heard it all before "in their store"...And claims like that don't mean jack anyhow, becuase no dealer's store I have visited, or heard of, had a set-up that was resolved enough to make adequate comparisons of ANY component, AND NEITHER HAS ANYONE ELSE I'VE KNOWN OR BEEN ACQUAINTED WITH (visited a dealer where even their best "demo rooms" were "up to suff").........................What makes you think you have heard a phono stage that is a better value than the Phonomena? If you think you have, then prove it to me verbally right here, rather than relying on your pompous attitude. Prove that there is a phono stage that represents a better value in the $600 range than the Phonomena, right now."..."And if Jeff Kalt feels his analog output stage is of poor quality (that is also an unsubstantiated comment that somehow gets by the censors and seems like a total falsehood to me), then he needs to get out of this business, and stop making CD players."..."My only conclusion from this exchange...is that Doug Sedond is on the Audiogon staff, but hasn't been up front about it. My position is, I try to be honest. For that, I'm being victimized by those who seem less honest."..."There is also no valid reason why an extra active component in the signal path would make any improvement on the CD player, unless it is a less resolved, and less musical presentation that you're after (and there certainly is no reason to be after such a thing). I stand by the performance of my player when run directly, and I do not accept any assertion that an additional linestage will improve its performance in any way, even if God himself says so, much less a mere human. Good day."..."Frankly, you don't need to know what preamp I use, because you will simply slight it, no matter how good it is."..."I reject the notion that the designers feel the CD player sounds better with a preamp." JEEZ, CARL, SURF THRU ANY THREAD, AND IT'S EASY TO FIND YER SPECULATION. FRANKLY, I'M TIRED OF ARGUING W/EWE YUST CUZ YURE PISSED-OFF THAT I THINK GEORGE BUSH IS A MENTAL MIDGET. SORRY YURE SO CLOSE-MINDED THAT YA CAN'T ASSESS SOMEONES OPINION ABOUT AUDIO RATIONALLY, YUST CUZ YA DON'T LIKE THEIR POLITICAL VIEWS!?! sorry, audiogon members, i will try to avoid rising to the bait in the future, & i will hopefully refrain from responding to carl's small-minded barbs pointed in my direction. doug
