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Experience with Raul's Essential 3150

Here are my comments on the listening session I had with Raul and his Essential 3150 Full Function Preamplifier.

Firstly, I would like to thank Raul. He is a very knowledgeable and kind gentleman. He has years and years of experience in music and analog systems. My respect for him is in another league after his visit. Some times his post opinions may seem controversial, but I think he knows what he’s talking about. Remember. Respect your elders…they have more experience.

Raul and Jose’s preamp is a seriously built unit!!! It has a separate power supply and the total weight of the two units is close to 50lbs. Very heavy, well shielded frame. Raul opened up the preamp and pointed out the level and quality of the parts. Vishay resistors, V-Caps, etc. This preamp is completely solid state and made with the finest parts and the inside does not look garage shop at all. It is impressive looking. His design is fully balanced from input to output. It included 2 SE line inputs, 2 balanced line inputs and 2 sets of phono inputs, both SE and balanced. It has a separate left and right volume control as well. The preamp is 12 years in the making and uses some interesting proprietary techniques. According to Raul, the distortion and frequency linearity is orders of magnitude better than just about all the other equipment out there.

We compared the music we were hearing using either his preamp or my CAT Ultimate MkII preamp. Since I had to create space in my rack, I removed my CD player. Therefore, we only listened to my analog system. I wish this were not the case because it would also have been good to compare line stages.

We listened to a few records: Miles Davis-Kind of Blue, Sade-Stronger than Pride, Steve Miller-Fly Like an Eagle, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon, and various classical selections. The most clear and obvious differences were bass response, transparency/detail and sound staging.

Music with the Essential had INCREDIBLE bass and midbass. Much, much better than listening through the CAT. It is extended, articulate and not attenuated the least bit. This improved the fullness and impact of the presentation greatly. It is quite amazing that my Analog system has bass potential that I was not even getting close to with the CAT. This alone has me seriously considering buying his unit.

As you would expect from fine solid state, the music had fine detail and transparency was at a higher level than you would expect with tubes. In this regard it was better than the CAT. Due to the transparency, the soundstage depth and width was very apparent. Dynamics were also very good.

In the mids to highs, music through the CAT had a richer and more immediate quality. Brass sounded brassier with the CAT than through the Essential. In comparison, music through the Essential had a detailed but lean, soft and relaxed presentation compared to the CAT. It comes down to which is more correct, which has a coloration and what does one prefer. Also, the Essential has some trim pots that allow extension or attenuation of frequencies above 20KHz. Raul believes that this observation would have been ameliorated by extending the frequencies.

Through both preamps, we heard slightly tipped up high frequencies in my system that Raul believes is not a function of either preamp. The most likely culprit is the frequency balance of the speakers or room acoustics. Therefore, I may need to address this problem first. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong with the Essential 3150. It really is like a tool.

The other thing I will try is replacing the tubes in the preamp. They are about two years old and have been used extensively. Ken Stevens from CAT believes that this will improve the level of the bass, articulation and transparency across the entire frequency range. It will be interesting to rehear some of the tracks we played after this. I also would like the chance to try the Essential for a week instead of the 5-6 hours we took as well as compare the line stage performance.

Overall, the Essential 3150 is a seriously good preamp and is probably better than most commercial solid state and tube units. If you have a chance, give it a try. In my case, I’ll first try addressing the speakers, seeing if the new tubes make a difference and hopefully spending more time with the unit.

Andrew
aoliviero
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rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear friends: The 3150 denomination on the Essential means something very simple, like Matt posted the Essential 3150 is in reality three fully balanced independent preamps in one box/chasis: Moving Coil, Moving Magnet and Line, so:
MCMML = 3150. We have a second model: two MC and Line:
2MCL = 2950.

The roman numbers were translated two the arabic numbers, that's all.

On other idea order and like Matt already posted the Essential is finished with the impedance that you choose. Yes, I change the load impedance with Fred, Albert and Paul/Doug systems. To do this you have to solder the resistor value that you need.

As Matt posted the introductory price of the Essential 3150 will change after we receive the first 10 orders, after that the price go higher.. We could receive, only, another seven orders at that price.

Btw, some of you maybe can remember an old refrence where I posted about a " English gentleman " that own the Essential 3150, well he is Desmond Bailey and you can contact with him at: desmond@owlsolutions.eu.com . His audio system: Talon speakers, Acoustic Signature Mambo TT, Ikeda/Moerch/Lustre tonearms, Allaerts MC2 Finish/Dynavector XV-1/MusicMaker cartridges, Levinson amp, etc, etc.

I don't want to " take " the Andrew thread so I'm thinking to share with all of you ( in other thread ) the great experiences that I lived during my audio trip in USA

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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albertporter
4,927 posts
 
I'm glad to hear you're returning home safely Raul. You really put yourself out with driving, especially considering the Thanksgiving holiday madness (and traffic).

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and spending time with you, thanks for including me on your trip.
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rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear friends: That was a mistake: 3150 = MMMCL , is the right way and the other is 2150 not 2950.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Raul called me before leaving Laredo to ask about impedance loading for our UNIverse. I suggested 100 ohms, since that is nominally the optimum load for a 4 ohm cartridge in an unknown circuit. He soldered in the appropriate resistors before leaving (or maybe on the plane?).

That worked fine. HF response was neither peaky nor rolled off. LF response was powerful and deep yet well controlled. If I were ordering an Essential 3150 for use with this cartridge I wouldn't chose a different value, at least not for our system.
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rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear friends: There are somethings that belongs to this thread and that help to understand the Essential 3150 quality performance:

- the Essential was not designed thinking in any one of you ( with all my respect to any one of you ), it is designed thinking in us ( Jose and I ), we designed for us wanting to have a better ( non compromise ) quality music/sound reproduction, over any other single electronics out there, that could bring out in our audio system what is really on the recording and to be nearer ( not so far away ) to the live event. This whole target was a huge challenge and was our motivation to build the Essential and to be here after almost 12 years of work about.

- We make an " in deep " electronic research theories for the Essential design/lay-out to find the right way where ( through the electronic design ) we could achieve our whole Essential targets. We use not only our know-how and skills about but the whole know-how that already exist out there. I want to tell you that from the Essential design we already start with three patented electronic design process. The Essential is a unique Phonolinepreamp.

- we check/test several parts: bipolars, Fets, resistors, caps, etc, etc, to find not only which was the best way to integrate those single parts on the whole Essential design but which parts had/have the most neutral " sound " performance. We don't choose and we was not looking for the " higher price " ( marketing ) parts but for the best neutral ones.

- we design ( for the most part José ) with out any commercial compromomise our compromise is only with the MUSIC. That's why the Essential is an active high gain ( no step up transformers that degrade the signal quality ) Phonolinepreamp integrated unit ( no additional interconnect cables and connectors that degradedd the signal quality ).

- we design with non signature sound in mind: warm/smooth/clear/etc, etc., we don't manipulated the Essential design to a signature kind of sound: tube/sound/hybrid " sound " ) and you can hear it because the SS Essential design has not the typical SS sound.

- now, the Essential design is not unique only because we say so. I'm not a " specification lover " but I take the " numbers " where they really counts.
Here are only some Essential critical specs:

inverse RIAA eq deviation: 0.015db from 20 to 20kHz !!!!. This one help to the Essential to be " truer to the recording " fact like no any single ( commercial or not at any price ) phonolinepreamp out there.

flat frequency response from: 0.01Hz to 1mHz.

overall distortion: 0.0002%

common mode rejection: -150db!!!

- other Essential considerations: our design is a Non-feedback, direct coupled, pure class A , true balanced input to output, dual mono design and fully regulated input to output. This dual mono design only share the chasis but both channels are totally independent from each other even in the external power supply that is so important to the performance on our phonolinepreamp.
The signal through the Essential not even not pass through any caps but even not pass through any single piece of wire because all parts ( including connectors ) are soldered directly to the 4 layers circuit boards. Btw, we use a 4 layer boards in the Essential design because is the only right way to design true segmented ground plane.

- the Essential design is a current mode one : The advantages of this extraordinarily simple technique are:

1) The volume control attenuates the audio signal and the stage noise at the same time, resulting in outstanding signal-to-noise ratios and dynamic range.

2) For every volume position, there is only one resistor defining the quality of the amplified signal (even a high-quality stepped attenuator has two resistors per position). This is one of our " unique design approach ".

As high-quality resistors are within the most sonically transparent devices available, the output signal is an exact replica of the input, only differing by an amplifying factor. The result is a phonopreamplifier combining the purity and transparency of a passive preamplifier with the speed, dynamics and drive of an active preamplifier. Btw, almost all the preamplifiers out there change its frequency response every time you move the volume: the Essential don't, the Essential frequency response is always the same it does not matters of the volume pot position!!!

Well, with the Essential ( all of us ) we have not only a " truer to the recording " Phonolinepreamp but a very critical/critic tool that for the better or worst tell you if everything is ok in your audio system or if there is/are some issues about.
When we own the Essential and we are hearing it we have to think seriously if our audio system today set-up is really right on target. The Essential could help you to make this because its almost inexistent noise/distortions/colorations.

The Essential " leaves " the music/sound flows freely with all music/sound feelings and emotions.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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