2. amps-preamps
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Cheap Bryston active or Creek OBH12 passive?

My first audiophile-grade system is in need only of a preamp:

Joseph Audio RM22si signature speakers
Music Hall CD 25 CD player
McIntosh MC2105 amp
Kimber 4TC biwire speaker cables and Signal Cable 2 interconnects

So far for preamps, I've tried using my Denon home theater receiver as well as no preamp (going straight into the McIntosh amp and dialing down the gain controls). Using no preamp wins for clarity and musicality over the Denon for sure (the Denon adds a murky layer over the music), and it seems to be a good match going CD straight to amp (Mac has a very high 220k input impedance). But it's not practical to keep switching cables, so I need a pre. I want to get something cheap for now, around $200 used. I listen to all types of music, from rock to vocals to classical, but more rock than anything else.

And now the simple question: In this system, what do you think would sound better, a Creek OBH12 passive, or a Bryston .4B, .5B, etc? If the Creek wins in your opinion, I'm curious to know roughly how much you think I would need to spend on an active pre before it would start sounding better than the passive. I'm only considering solid state right now, don't want to worry about replacing tubes just yet.

Thanks,
Matt.
matt8268
newbee
4,093 posts
 
matt, you're in great shape on your amp sensitivity and pre to amp cables. I don't think the length of the cable between the CDP and the preamp will be a problem. The only question is whether or not your CDP can drive the Mac. With the Mac's gain at .5v my guess is that this would not be a problem. And once again i agree with Marakanez re a small loss due to the CDP output would be preferable to a cheap SS preamp (of any manufacture).
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
In your situation less-likely you have problems running long interconnects from your CD-player. 2ft between pre and power is ideal and the input sencitivity is ideal. There is no CD-player that I know of has an output less than 1V which is in your case ideal as well.
So you'll best with passive preamp and even with upgrades toward different more higher quality passive preamps.
socrates
247 posts
 
The Creek sounds awful relative to good actives that you can buy for under a grand used, it's flat, lifeless, constrained, grainy, boring. Sure, for $200 you can't be it, but truth be told it deserves its Stereopile class C rating....well, maybe a C- or D+, given what's available today on the used market pretty cheap. It will be the weakest link in your system. If you are intrigued by the passive preamp, try the Adcom 750, the one with a switch to choose active/passive modes, designed by Nelson Pass, highly praised in the print, found used for maybe $650(?).
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
I bought a bentaudio passive preamp to try in my system. I have only had a chance to listen for a couple of hours so far but I can tell you this, it is much more of an improvement to my system than I had dreamed it would be. I am useing two meter XLR's to my amp and it seems to be fine with those. Tomorrow I am going to switch some cables around and also hook up my ribbon speakers and give that a listen. I am going to do a post on what I think in a few days.
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