valve pre options?

Coda II

Coda II

getting there slowly
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
603
Reaction score
1
Location
Devon
Having come very close to buying an EAR 802 recently I'm just having another look at what's worth a look/listen in valve pre amps.

From memory, the WD pre3 is well liked here - but would be over budget new (as I don't feel confident enough to do the build myself).

Does anyone here have experience of the Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid?

Any other suggestions welcome, it would be to replace a TVC so needs to retain the transparency but bring a bit more to the mix as well.

Thanks
 
The best way is to try and gather as many possibles together at your place, and drive yourself mad , I mean form an opinion, for yourself, Keith.
 
I'm looking for a s/h balanced tube pre, preferably lowish gain. Difficult to find examples to audition, though.
 
Purite Audio said:
The best way is to try and gather as many possibles together at your place, and drive yourself mad , I mean form an opinion, for yourself, Keith.
Click to expand...


Trying to do just that (opinion not mad)

ps. Thursday/Friday next week would be good for me
 
Seriously you might try Vacuum State, does Dave still bring those in, I have only heard good things about their sound, ( Thursday friday it is ) Kieth.
 
Purite Audio said:
Seriously you might try Vacuum State, does Dave still bring those in, I have only heard good things about their sound, ( Thursday friday it is ) Kieth.
Click to expand...

Don't think he had any last time I popped in - just checked his site as well and they aren't listed anymore. There are supposed to be some new pre amps from Puresound sometime soon though and he is a stockist now.
 
I was chatting to Guy about the new pre is it the L300? I am sure it will be good but I have an idea it is around £4.5k ish. Definitely worth a listen, Keith.
 
The site talks of an L10 as well, I was hoping this would be rather more 'entry level'; 10 has got to be cheaper than 300 of anything, hasn't it?
 
Point about being over budget noted, but the World Design Pre 3 is available in balanced configuration with miniature XLR sockets fitted. (and plugs provided).

A very nice pre amp that will drive any load unlike the vast majority of valve units. It will even produce sound from very sensitive speakers as in essence its a miniature single ended power amp :)
 
RobHolt said:
Point about being over budget noted, but the World Design Pre 3 is available in balanced configuration with miniature XLR sockets fitted. (and plugs provided).

A very nice pre amp that will drive any load unlike the vast majority of valve units. It will even produce sound from very sensitive speakers as in essence its a miniature single ended power amp :)
Click to expand...

I have been having another look at it. Are the instructions available to look at anywhere? couldn't see them on the WD site, just thought having a read through would give me a better idea as to whether it's something I have a reasonable chance of completing successfully. Also had a trawl through the classifieds on the WD forum and didn't see a single one for sale - does that just indicate satisfied owners?
 
Coda II said:
I have been having another look at it. Are the instructions available to look at anywhere? couldn't see them on the WD site, just thought having a read through would give me a better idea as to whether it's something I have a reasonable chance of completing successfully. Also had a trawl through the classifieds on the WD forum and didn't see a single one for sale - does that just indicate satisfied owners?
Click to expand...

Lack of used amps for sale is to be expected as the Pre 3 hasn't been around for long.

There are some Hi-Fi World articles on the build and it looks very simple. The unit contains a handful of components which are soldered to a screen printed pcb. If you can solder it would be difficult to go wrong - and even if you do the WD support folk and the forum will sort you out.

Send Peter Comeau a PM and perhaps he'll send you build instructions pdf.
 
Coda II said:
Having come very close to buying an EAR 802 recently I'm just having another look at what's worth a look/listen in valve pre amps.

From memory, the WD pre3 is well liked here - but would be over budget new (as I don't feel confident enough to do the build myself).

Does anyone here have experience of the Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid?

Any other suggestions welcome, it would be to replace a TVC so needs to retain the transparency but bring a bit more to the mix as well.

Thanks
Click to expand...


Hi

The emporium had one of these for sale on Ebay, only about £300.

I THINK it was 'penance' on this forum who had one. I also THINK it was Wadia Meister who reccomended it to him. If you do a forum search on the brand it will probably pop up. This is going back a couple of years.
 
Just a quick update; still need to follow up some of the above but Keith's Allnic pre arrived last week and I've been having an interesting time with it.

In general it's a very listenable amp, does more of the lots of little improvements across several areas rather than one stand out party trick, but all the better for that in my view.

Yes it's several orders of magnitude over budget, but in a way that makes it easier to come to dispassionate conclusions about.
 
I've a Shindo for sale (it may have gone as a chap in europe is seriously interested) - this is one of God's own preamps - but may be more than you want to pay (£1600) - It is however an ARC Reference beater and rarer than pigeon's dentures second-hand.

BTW if you do see an EAR 802 that is a bargain - very nice sounding preamp
 
Yes looked at your Shindo, yes looks interesting, yes too much money (by about 1K)!

Just a few more thoughts about where I'm getting to with the Allnic though (yes also too much money, in case anyone was wondering).

I think it's the first time I've had an amp here that was so noticeably different with different sources and different types of music. The first CD I played when it arrived was Bach Goldbergs; as it turns out solo piano (on CD) is one of things this amp excels in for me. The first disappointment was how it got on with my vinyl set-up. Having brought some rather nice weight, smoothness and delicate phrasing to CD, with vinyl (Strauss 4 last songs was first up) the upper registers of the soprano voice were rather thin and lacking texture as were upper violins. Having conferred with Keith I swapped my standard stranded copper cables for the ones Keith sent down with the amp - full marks to Keith for knowing what suits his amp as they seemed to have the desired effect.

Having now had a bit more playing time with both formats though, I still think the Allnic is better matched to my CD front end. It seems to have a slight softening effect, not woolly or muffled, but just taking off a bit of the edginess. With a vinyl set-up that is fairly smooth to start with: clearaudio aurum basics/RB250/spacedeck/ANT Kora, I think the softening from the pre may be a step too far leaving a rather exposed upper range which could in fact be down to the ribbons in my SD1s (a touch on the aggressive side) or indeed the Quad 909 providing the power at present.
One other reservation is to do with attack; how notes start - it doesn't have the crispness of my Promitheus and I also have in the back of my mind the rather nice timbre I heard from my speakers on the end of an EAR 869 (I know it's not important to everyone, but it is to me).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi someone was selling a Paul Hynes line stage a few months back in the classified ,this would be great, The man who built my amplification makes a little linestage using ecc88s about the size of a prayer book it is very good ,it was ment for sources with volume control one set of inputs and one set of outputs,you could make a switching unit with volume control, Ecofansound,in N .Zealand is the company name, some of his products have been reviewed on the net.goodluck
 
thanks haystacks
larkrise: if you're reading, any comment on the Hynes pre?
 
Just a quick follow up.
Have had a Croft Micro 25 on trial and like it very much. As suggested above I contacted WD and they have been very helpful; first sending through the build instructions and then last week providing a loan unit for me to have a listen to.
So far though I've been rather disappointed with it. It doesn't sound bad at all; but I do find it more biased to the lively, airy sound that I associate with some modern hifi, it puts me in mind of much of the Cyrus I've heard - not in itself a bad thing but the Croft seems to be doing much better at the subtle colourations of mid and treble that I've been after.
It may be that it just doesn't make a good match for the ribbons in my speakers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Latest posts

Back
Top