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World's best Pre-amp for $10K and above?

Looking for the HOLY GRAIL in Audio? Here it is. I'm in my early sixties and retiring to my final system, which I was going to purchase during the past twelve months and decided to put on the brakes, and investigate whats out there as the most advanced engineered high end audio products for the money in the market place. As far as I'm concerned, the two top engineers in the world for the best Amp and Preamp at low prices are Bent Holter with Hegel Audio in Norway and Roger Sanders with Sanders Sound in Colorado. Why? The Hegel P-30 Pre-amp is a game changer, and will easily compete with Pre-amps at $30K and above. The FM Acoustics 268 Preamp that retails for $107K, uses a technology thats called "feedforward" instead of feedback.
Amps and Pre-amps since the early 80's have all used either global feedback, zero feedback or local feedback to filter out noise and lower distortion by sending and filtering the feedback current to filter capacitors or or an extra filter transformer. A small amount of voltage feedback occurs at the output stage in amps and preamps which goes back into the parts and boards causing noise and distortion which smears the quality of the music.The best Preamps in the world all have S/N noise ratios at 125 db's or above. The Hegel P-30 Preamp uses the same feedforward technology as FM Acoustics but is a more current design that Bent Holter calls "Sound Engine" patented technology that eliminates feedback which is why the P-30 Preamp has a S/N ratio of 132 db's, which has never been accomplished in high end audio with a Preamp costing $10K or below. The same applies to Roger Sanders Magtech amplifier which uses a patented linear voltage regulator that controls and regulates voltage with no excess voltage going back into the amp causing heat and distortion problems. The amp puts out 900 watts into 4ohms. Krell makes a pair of mono blocs that also use a similar voltage regulator. The amps are $100K a pair. HERES THE PERFECT SOLID STATE SYSTEM. A Hegel P-30 Preamp. A Sanders Magtech amp, A pair of Aerial Acoustics 7T speakers. The worlds finest SACD player, the Playback Designs MPS-5, designed by Andreas Koch, who invented SACD technology when he worked for Sony. He built the worlds first outboard DAC in 1982 and is legend in digital engineering. The MPS-5 is the most analog sounding player on the market which costs $17K. The Hegel P-30 is only $7500.00 and the Magtech amp is only $5K. The Aerials are $10K. Buy the solid core cables from Morrow Audio. They are low capacitance cables which matches up perfectly with these components. This combination sounds like the very best tube and solid state gear on the market. The whole system will cost about $42K but will sound as good as any system costing $200K. All of these products are game changers. If you want better looking cabinets and faceplates, then blow your money, but you will not get better performance for what this system has to offer. It is the HOLY GRAIL you are searching for and there is no better combination for the total cost of the system.
audiozen
dover
1,165 posts
 
If it aint got no tubes, it aint got no swing. I'm with Atmasphere on this one, there are other issues to consider with most gear, both tube and solid state, speed and timing, no matter what the price.
May/June 2012 TAS - Marantz 7C - "blessed with the resolution and transparency of great contemporary solid state amplifiers and preamps, such as the Technical Brain TBP-Zero .. or the Soulution 700." Thats a standard Marantz 7 they are referring to, which has much room for improvement.
I have heard nothing yet that does speed/timing as my modded Marantz 7, and guess what - the phono will amplify LOMC's of 0.25mv up without screwing the music up. Perhaps I should send it to TAS to hear something even more resolving than the Soulution despite the basic design being over 60 years old.
facten
931 posts
 
Anyone else think that the second coming of the Almighty has already occurred, cause no one else seems to know a thing
audiozen OP
754 posts
 
There is just a handful of Preamps on the market that have zero feedback, feed forward designs which vary from one company to another. Companies such as Luxman, Accuphase, Soulutions, FM Acoustics to name a few as well as others.
However, all of this products are voiced subjectively to have a different sonic character from one brand to the other. Some are very fast, slow, bright, warm, hard, smooth, laid back or very forward that only work well in large rooms. Again, all the best designs all have S/N ratio's above 125 db's. Having the S/N ratio much higher also reduces distortion even further since there is lower noise in the boards which also reduces vibration. It was more relevant years ago that very expensive Preamps costing $15K and above produced major sonic differences but in recent years the science of audio engineering has advanced to such a level it is now possible, given the talent of a good modern day audio engineer, to design a Preamp in the $6K to $10K range that will equal the performance of Preamps in the $20K to $50K range. This is where Bent Holter comes in from Hegel. He is a true prodigy retaining a degree in micro electronics with an emphasis on transistor engineering. He has taken a whole new approach on feed forward technology that has further advanced the technique on the same scale as FM Acoustics at a fraction of the cost. The Hegel P-30 Preamp is the best Preamp in the world in its price range and will easily equal other Preamps in performance at much higher prices.
The P-30 is warm, lush, relaxing, very, very organic, with full midrange bloom and full, tight deep bass that is outstanding and the best detail, resolution and 3-D echo decay that one could ever hope for. It does not sound solid state. Its organic sound is like the very best blending of tube and solid state. No bullshit. Simply a damn good design. If your thinking about spending $10K or a lot more on a Preamp, put the brakes on and save your money and buy a world class Preamp for $7500.00. Once you hear the P-30 you will not believe the level of performance you get for the price.
hifitime
715 posts
 
Again, all the best designs all have S/N ratio's above 125 db's.
08-13-12: Audiozen

Every time I see a statement like this, the first thing that comes to mind is, "A fool and his money are soon parted." I used to be a spec person. Then I discovered amps that make music, and make it sound real. Specs alone doesn't make the component sound like music. It's the overall design. Using specs alone, left me with too much sterile, and lifeless sounding gear.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Hifitime,
Well said, there`s no better teacher than the experience of actually listening.He`s heard the Hegel and likes it,good. But relying on measurements is near worthless.
Regards,
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