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Who is using a Preamp?
- Thread starter AcousticTheory
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Is that for a stadium or similar?
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LOL, Medium to small room, hard to drive 4ohm speakers. After a few trials with bookshelves and subs I started going towers, I know, yea, Harder to balance in a smaller room but with Dirac and all that now it's much easier, Once done towers just sound way better to me and due to the size of the room headroom is abundant .
Fair question.
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Actually I have been planing to do that, perhaps not idle, they are spread over 4 15 amp circuits, but plan to replace them with 20 amps. Have the room in the circuit box for the breakers/
Medium to small room, love high SPL in movies and the house curve, harder to make work in the room but when it clicks it sounds much better than a bookshelf sub setup. (Although in this room 7.1.4 was a bit of a waste, 5.1.4 sounds just as good if not better. Less speakers to deal with I guess.. but I had to try.
Have a great day.
DSJR
Master Contributor
I appear now to have a collection and it's becoming rather embarrassing
Currently restoring these two for my living room system with no tape and an additional amp in its place on the rack
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FWIW, there are quite a few preamps here -- unfortunately heavily biased toward not very good ones. 
I, unfortunately, have a soft spot in myhead heart for things like this -- kind of the hifi equivalent of a crazy cat lady, I suppose.
So many active preamps, in my experience, make things sound just a little bit worse in the signal path than out of it. The above-mentioned "DIY/CLASS D" kit amp does not have that deficit -- and it does provide some additional drive that the SE 2A3 power amplifier needs for best results. I quite like it.
This one's pretty good, but, like most of the GAS products, it's kind of persnickety, at least in its dotage.
I, unfortunately, have a soft spot in my
So many active preamps, in my experience, make things sound just a little bit worse in the signal path than out of it. The above-mentioned "DIY/CLASS D" kit amp does not have that deficit -- and it does provide some additional drive that the SE 2A3 power amplifier needs for best results. I quite like it.
This one's pretty good, but, like most of the GAS products, it's kind of persnickety, at least in its dotage.
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awesome.
Nice components!
My only "new" preamps are a Fosi P4 and ZP3. Both sound pretty transparent... I have used many older preamps Yamaha, Adcom, as well as using various receivers (NAD, Yamaha) with pre/amp jumpers that I sometimes use as preamps or amps when playing with my collection...
Corvuscorone
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I use Emotiva PT-100 preamplifier attached with SMLS DL-100 dac/headphone amp and Audiophonics MPA-S250NC power amp in my main system. It also has TV, Audiolab 6000CDT transporter and Rega P3 turntable connected to it. The Emotiva is easy to operate from the couch with the remote control and trigger connected to the main amplifier.
My second system has Onkyo A-9150 integrated amplifier as a preamplifier, SMLS raw-mda1 dac/HP amplifier and XTZ edge a2-300 power amp. These are connected to TV, Onkyo C-7030 cd player and Rega P2 turntable. These amps are also easy to operate from the couch with the remote control. Both amplifiers have automatic timeout.
I use diy cardioid three-way floorstanding speakers in both systems. The first system also has HSU VTF-3 MK3 subwoofer.
I think the systems are good enough for me in terms of sound quality. Recently, I have been focusing on improving room acoustics with various panels. I would probably only use DACs if I didn't have turntables. I also have a bad habit of keeping all the equipment I buy and not selling the oldest or worst equipment. I like to connect equipment together and have some kind of system in almost every room
My second system has Onkyo A-9150 integrated amplifier as a preamplifier, SMLS raw-mda1 dac/HP amplifier and XTZ edge a2-300 power amp. These are connected to TV, Onkyo C-7030 cd player and Rega P2 turntable. These amps are also easy to operate from the couch with the remote control. Both amplifiers have automatic timeout.
I use diy cardioid three-way floorstanding speakers in both systems. The first system also has HSU VTF-3 MK3 subwoofer.
I think the systems are good enough for me in terms of sound quality. Recently, I have been focusing on improving room acoustics with various panels. I would probably only use DACs if I didn't have turntables. I also have a bad habit of keeping all the equipment I buy and not selling the oldest or worst equipment. I like to connect equipment together and have some kind of system in almost every room
I have always favored integrated amps. Simplicity is a virtue to me, but then again it can be limiting if you are looking for extra capabilities.
These days I'd only consider 3 possible options:
1. A DAC+preamp (with Dirac built in) + active speakers + sub.
2. An integrated amp with DAC built-in (no phone inputs) and sub management + sub (my current setup basically)
3. Stuff like the LS50W or LS60, although the integration of streaming software adds cost without convincing me it's future-proof
Basically, I have become very minimalist in my preferences.
These days I'd only consider 3 possible options:
1. A DAC+preamp (with Dirac built in) + active speakers + sub.
2. An integrated amp with DAC built-in (no phone inputs) and sub management + sub (my current setup basically)
3. Stuff like the LS50W or LS60, although the integration of streaming software adds cost without convincing me it's future-proof
Basically, I have become very minimalist in my preferences.
Like some who responded: Old skool, and definitely not minimalist like @pablolie
All of these (except the Kenwood integrated amp) have a SINAD in the 90-100 dB range, which is good enough for playing speakers in real rooms with even critical listeners. Several are what I call fully featured, with external processor loops, two tape loops with dubbing, phono inputs with adjustable capacitance (at least), tone controls with useful contours, loudness controls with useful contours, two sets of outputs so that it's easy to add subs if wanted, and plenty of line inputs. To get all that connectivity, you need old skool (because you have lots of old-skool sources to plug into it).
I was using a Topping DAC as the volume control for the YouTube system, and the TV to create the digital input for it (with the only inputs from a DVD player and an Apple TV box). But I was always concerned that one day the software-driven volume control would glitch and my amp would murder my speakers. Now, I set the preamp to the top threshold of loudness (line-stage amp bypassed) and still use the remote on the DAC.
Rick "modern preamps lack inputs for the usual variety of vintage sources" Denney
- Main system, recently upgraded the to a restored Apt Holman Preamp, tested on my bench with my HP8903b distortion analyzer and reported on this forum. Amp is a Buckeye NC502MP driving Revel F12 speakers. This is the oldest preamp in the bunch (1979) and arguably the very best. Its key feature is that it uses the volume control to to control an inverting amplifier so that the line stage amp's noise is canceled, and that's useful when the amp is as powerful as that Buckeye.
- Basement YouTube-watching system: B&K MC-101 Sonata, my previous primary preamp. It has a feature that was popular in the 90's when it was made--a line-stage amp bypass switch. Good thing, too. It needs to go on the bench because there's a buzz in the line-stage amp. It's bypassed in the basement application. Amp is a B&K Reference 125.2 driving Advent NLAs.
- Office: Kenwood Basic C-1, driving an Adcom GFA-535 amp and Pioneer BS22LR speakers.
- Bench: No preamp here--using an old Kenwood integrated amp.
- In storage for bench restoration: Adcom GFP-555 and GFP-565, SAE P102.
- Fixit needed (bad relay): Onkyo P3040.
All of these (except the Kenwood integrated amp) have a SINAD in the 90-100 dB range, which is good enough for playing speakers in real rooms with even critical listeners. Several are what I call fully featured, with external processor loops, two tape loops with dubbing, phono inputs with adjustable capacitance (at least), tone controls with useful contours, loudness controls with useful contours, two sets of outputs so that it's easy to add subs if wanted, and plenty of line inputs. To get all that connectivity, you need old skool (because you have lots of old-skool sources to plug into it).
I was using a Topping DAC as the volume control for the YouTube system, and the TV to create the digital input for it (with the only inputs from a DVD player and an Apple TV box). But I was always concerned that one day the software-driven volume control would glitch and my amp would murder my speakers. Now, I set the preamp to the top threshold of loudness (line-stage amp bypassed) and still use the remote on the DAC.
Rick "modern preamps lack inputs for the usual variety of vintage sources" Denney
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melomane13
Active Member
For me, a preamp is a box that allows you to select the source, adjust the volume, tone, and loudness, preferably with a remote control. I do this with a Raspberry Pi, caillaDsp, and a Python script of my own creation. As a bonus, this gives me access to a DSP, 6 channels, a headphone amplifier... and the best Lyrion streamer.
Out of curiosity, did you home demo the AHB2 alongside a few of its rivals before purchase?The Benchmark preamps are excellent. ASR review:
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Benchmark HPA4 headphone amplifier and preamplifier. The company was kind enough to loan me one for testing. The HPA4 retails for US $2999 so not cheap. It is a collaboration between Benchmark and THX to implement the "888" standard. Will it outperform the much cheaper THX designed Massdrop/Drop AAA 789? That is what we will attempt to determine later in this review.
The HPA4 is a departure from other Benchmark products with the addition of a color touchscreen:
The screen looks better in person (and in my...
I use with Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier.
I bought this amp, unheard and unseen soon after its introduction, on rave recommendation by the owner of similar speakers to mine, but I learned later that he was obsessed by noise and the Benchmark has extremely high S/N ratio. Despite its excellent measurements, I found it drearily dull compared with several others (there was a kiss-of-death tendency to turn down the volume!), so I ditched it after listening comparisons were concluded. Pity, as it has lots of great features as well as its academic excellence on paper – it just didn’t allow my speakers to deliver the excitement factor they are known for.
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