2. amps-preamps
  3. 1311730684

A bit overwhelmed, need preamp advice

Hello! New Guy here...

I think the pre-amp must be the most challenging component to buy. It's like the master controller and brains of the whole system and I am having a hard time with narrowing my choices down and was looking for some advice.

When I setup my home theater system it was a much easier decision and I ended up with a Proceed AVP-S. Well, I've been selling all my HT gear and want to move back to a simple but very musical two channel setup.

Speakers are Snell B-Minors, my amp is a Bryston 4B-SST, and the front end is a California Audio Labs CL-25 but I am getting rid of the Proceed and the Cal Audio and moving to a RAID1 music server setup that I've built and ripped my 2000 CD's to Flac with exact audio copy.

I need to find a replacement for the Proceed and the only thing that will be connected to the pre-amp is a Musical Fidelity M1DAC.

The Proceed is a little on the dry analytic side, and I was looking for something that would add a bit of warmth, focus and 3 dimensionality and better depth and soundstaging. But not too much warmth and bloom!

One of the challenges is that whatever I get, the bass has to be pretty controlled which is why I got the Bryston. The Snell's have a 12" woofer and the Bryston is able to really take control of it.

My budget is about $1500 usd and I'm looking for some suggestions.

I was thinking of the Rogue Metis Preamplifier with the Magnum upgrades for $1,495.

Or the Placette Passive linestage with the remote for $1595.00

I was hoping I could get some thoughts from folks that have had these and let me know what you thought. The other thing is what are the downsides to a passive linestage? I've heard you give up dynamics for transparency and I'm not sure I can live with that.

I listen to literally all kinds of music so a good soundstage, accuracy, musicality, and dynamic range is important. Sorry for rambling but please chime in if you have any thoughts.

Thanks,

David
davidwjones
tpsully
10 posts
 
Check out a used Ayre KX5eMP. I've been very happy with mine, detailed, but very smooth. I upgraded from an ARC LS16 and it was a significant upgrade.
dob
577 posts
 
" the bass has to be pretty controlled "

With your budget then the best preamp is Joule-Electra LA-150Mk2, used. Harry Pearson wrote that is has extraordinary bass and gave it some award (Golden Ear?) a few years ago. Not only it has excellent bass - it will match excellently, fantastically with your Bryston power amplifier.

Search on Audiogon, call them and ask for dealers who might have demos or they may have demo. For you , there is no better preamp !
edorr
714 posts
 
In my estimation, if you have a DAC worth $500 used and $1,500 to spend, you are better off selling the DAC and getting a better dac with volume control if you have no need for switching through a preamp.

An asynchronous USB dac with volume control you would get better result in a computer audio only application. The obvious condidate would be the wired4sound dac2. Another option would be a PS audio perfectwave DAC with bridge as music server. I use this myself and recently did a shootout between DAC direct and running it through my $10K Modwright 36.5 LS/PS tube preamp and it was a very close call.
mcondon
223 posts
 
A few thoughts...first, I agree that you should look for a better DAC. The PW DAC (used) or W4S DAC2 would offer a lot of bang for the buck in your system. Second, I don't like going amp direct from a digital source. Digital volume controls are often lousy and I always find the sound quality to be too sterile. I have similar feelings about passive preamps. If you want to experiment with a passive, I would order a Lightspeed Attenuator before a Bent You could sell the Lightspeed in a heartbeat. Third, I would look for a tube preamp for your Bryston amp. Finally, I would avoid false economies. Sure, the Doge may seem like a bargain at $1500, but try selling it at anywhere close to that price. An Aesthetix Calypso, on the other hand, might cost $2000 or so used, but it will retain it's value. (When they come up for sale used, they are sold very quickly.). There is a very active thread on Audioasylum by someone who has had great success mating a Calypso with a Bryston SST.
emorrisiv
312 posts
 
My only rebuttal is that you rarely see the Doge for sale and when you do they sell for $1000-1200. The last one I saw sold in the first hour. I am sure a Aesthetix would be first rate too. I would love to hear one. Does the Calypso have a phono stage? I thought you needed a Rhea for that. Would love to hear that too, especially with the remote control cartridge loading! Cool indeed.
btw I have my Doge mated up to a SS power amp and it works very well with my Acoustats.

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