Battle of affordable pre-amps: Rotel vs Parasound

Realremo,

I guess I've been lucky. I would probably behave the same as you if I had had your same experience.
I also need to upgrade slowly over the years, so I know we want to take time and think through our upgrades.

Let me suggest you try the RB1080 and Quads before you decide on a preamp. You might find the 1080 to be too edgy with the Quads (like I did with the B&W) and might decide to spend less on a preamp and to upgrade to an amp that better matches the Quads. Rotel RC1070 is cheap and good for such a case. I had it with my McIntosh MC275 amp and was good.

Get the amp+speaker combo right. Otherwise you'll be looking for a preamp to compensate whatever that combo doesn't do right...not the best approach in my view.

I hope this helps, even if I'm kind of throwing you in a different direction.

My general listening setup consists of a (Rotel) RC1090 pre, RB-1092 amp, RCD-1055, RLC-1040 & B&W N804 with a ASW800 sub. A nearby lightening strike disabled my RC-1090. Filed my damage request with APC (they made the RLC-1040)and thye told me 4-8 weeks before a decision would be made and that I could not repair my preamp yet in case they wanted to look at it. In their defense they are sending me a S20BLK so I can send them my RLC-1040 to look at. Anyway, I could not wiat that long so I went out to get a substitute pre - a RC-1550. I was not looking to get too excited because I had a RC-1070 before my RC-1090 (a big upgrade). Mt dealer did not have any RC-1580 is stock. Well, to my surprise I am very pleased with the $620 (what I paid) RC-1550. I am not missing much if anything in musicality - it is a very strong pre for the monies. I looked for a cheap replace/hold-me-over pre and was treated to a nice piece of stereo equipment. This setup is for background listening. My main system is McIntosh equipment with Sonus faber speakers, just to give you an idea of the equipment spectrum I ma enjoying.

Ancient post.

The P3 is an OK little pre-amp if you can live with OPamp sound. I spent a bunch of time modding one I have with upgraded PS components and high end opamps, but it still did not sound anywhere as good as a JC-2 with discrete components.

BTW, John Curl had nothing to do with the design of the P3. I hear he dislikes the use of Opamps in the audio chain and would never design an amp with them. The P3 was designed by the Parasound Taiwan team of engineers.

What pre would you recommend, Dhl, if neither the Rotel nor the Parasound works for you?

Dhl, that's not altogether true. Given the choice, John Curl prefers discrete devices, but he has designed products using op amps, some of which have won product of the year awards.

Parasound dealer.