ASL Mini Phono

Bombaywalla,

Much appreciated! Even if you haven't heard the Mini Phono, I have in fact been considering buying the passive pre to go with it eventually anyway, so your take on this is very helpful. There's one area where the ASLs will go toe to toe against anything out there, and that's timing and musicality. I carried my Wave 20s to a friend's house the other day who uses 120-watt SS monoblocks, and after hours of breathless, astounded listening, he said "I'll just have to kill you and keep the amps." I think the ASL gear has made being an audiophile (a pernicious disease) the most fun I've ever had in audio. Of course, if the Rotel has fans, or any other pre in this price range, I'd love to know about it.

John,

My take on the ASL TIDT passive pre ($500. It has a big brother which sells for $800) is that it had exemplary sound! Very transparent, very dynamic & (like you said) the music had very good timing to it, lots of high freq. extension & there was nothing obvious lacking in the bass either. I'm sure that the single-driver speakers also had a lot to do w/ my enjoyment of the music.
For $500, I feel that you cannot go wrong. Hope that helps some.

Tell you the truth, the ASL T1DT was at the top of my list, but now I've discovered the existence of the Bottlehead kit preamp, and I'm salivating: it's cheap - $150 - and (therefore) fun, and it looks so retro cool. And if you're going to go single high-sensitivity driver, then you've gotta hear the ASL Tulip 3.5-watt singled-ended 2A3 amp: simply one of the best I've heard in my 25 years of listening to "high-end" audio. I can also speak for the Wave 8s (no longer made) and 20s, though these wouldn't be as refined as the Tulip, just ballsier. Any other cheap phono experiences out there? I'm building a cheap n' cheerful state-of-the-art rock'em sock'em system, thanks to the likes of ASL.

I had an ASL mini-phono for a while, hooked to an MMF7. For the $$$, it's hard to beat. Has that great tube sound and is relatively quiet. You need an HO MC or an MM cartridge for it though. It's advertised at 57db of gain, but I think 37-39 is more accurate. It was a good starting pre for me until I could get the CJ EV1, which is an incredible tube pre for the $$.

Thanks Arafel, I've just bought the Mini Phono and I can't wait to try it! Your experience with it pretty well matches other reports of its exaggerated output, but that's OK since I'll be using it with MMs.