I just remembered this and am attaching some cut outs of a review: Spread Sprectrum Technologies... Ambrosia....
Metaphorically speaking, a preamplifier is the spark plug of an audio system. It has the potential to jump-start the audio signal and set the stage for the power amp. But because it sits at the head of the amplification chain it can also imprint its personality on each and every input signal. Virtually every preamp I have reviewed over the past 25 years has been vacuum tube based. At the risk of sounding like a tube supremacist, I would like to point out that there is a reason for why tubes have ruled preamp land. Tubes have always had the gift of microdynamics, harmonic textures and spatiality. They have been able - far more convincingly than transistors of dishing out the music's emotional content and drama as well as fleshing out believable instrumental timbres and soundstage dimensions. Transistors have had bass, detail resolution, and low noise to brag about, but in my book enjoying the music' counts for far more than accurate sterility. The notion that tube magic is partially due to euphonic colorations of the signal does not bother me at all. Because above all else, I value the ability to connect with the music's message. J. Gordon Holt's Goose Bump' test is still as valid today as it was 50 years ago. By the way, his favorite preamp was the Marantz 7, which went on to become a classic. It was only in the past couple of years that my respect for solid-state preamplification took a leap forward. It started with the GamuT D3, and now the Ambrosia.
the Ambrosia is a sensation at any price point. Here is a full function preamplifier complete with MM and MC phono capability that for me bridges the sonic gap between solid-state and tube designs. If you already own a tube or hybrid amp, the Ambrosia should prove most complementary. With a tubed CD player, such as the PrimaLuna ProLogue Eight at the head of the chain, the Ambrosia-Son partnership partnered makes for a synergistic amplification chain competitive with the best money can buy.
Dick Olsher Enjoy the Music
Metaphorically speaking, a preamplifier is the spark plug of an audio system. It has the potential to jump-start the audio signal and set the stage for the power amp. But because it sits at the head of the amplification chain it can also imprint its personality on each and every input signal. Virtually every preamp I have reviewed over the past 25 years has been vacuum tube based. At the risk of sounding like a tube supremacist, I would like to point out that there is a reason for why tubes have ruled preamp land. Tubes have always had the gift of microdynamics, harmonic textures and spatiality. They have been able - far more convincingly than transistors of dishing out the music's emotional content and drama as well as fleshing out believable instrumental timbres and soundstage dimensions. Transistors have had bass, detail resolution, and low noise to brag about, but in my book enjoying the music' counts for far more than accurate sterility. The notion that tube magic is partially due to euphonic colorations of the signal does not bother me at all. Because above all else, I value the ability to connect with the music's message. J. Gordon Holt's Goose Bump' test is still as valid today as it was 50 years ago. By the way, his favorite preamp was the Marantz 7, which went on to become a classic. It was only in the past couple of years that my respect for solid-state preamplification took a leap forward. It started with the GamuT D3, and now the Ambrosia.
the Ambrosia is a sensation at any price point. Here is a full function preamplifier complete with MM and MC phono capability that for me bridges the sonic gap between solid-state and tube designs. If you already own a tube or hybrid amp, the Ambrosia should prove most complementary. With a tubed CD player, such as the PrimaLuna ProLogue Eight at the head of the chain, the Ambrosia-Son partnership partnered makes for a synergistic amplification chain competitive with the best money can buy.
Dick Olsher Enjoy the Music