HELP! Best Preamp under 1000 or close ??
Mar 20, 2003 at 8:22 PM Post #17 of 36
Cary slp-88. There is a new one advertised on audiogon by Jeffs Sound Values for $1095. I have never personally heard this model, but the past Cary pres have been excellent to me. I also think the Gilmore amp is an excellent pre. It has displaced my Mccormack tlc-1. I think the Gilmore is hard to beat, especially for the price but its not a full featured pre.
 
Mar 21, 2003 at 12:34 AM Post #18 of 36
indigo,

Nope, haven't heard any Mesa products. For what its worth I didn't like the SLP-88 (mushy and overexaggerated decay) or the ARC LS8 (boring and expensive in cost and maintenence considering how hard it was on tubes) when I had the opportunity to try them in my rigs. The EAR 834L is a preamp I liked a lot in your price range but haven't heard in a long time, might be worth adding to your research list. kelly had the opportunity to try it with some Classe gear if I remember correctly, his impressions may be in the archives here.

I think its smart to choose the preamp before the amp, as after you pick speakers the amp can be choosen as the last piece of the puzzle with power/impedence/etc in mind. Have you got an idea of what speakers you're looking at and what treatments you'll be doing to the room yet?
 
Mar 21, 2003 at 12:57 AM Post #19 of 36
Think the triangle celius or a used pair of theil 3.x for the speakers....

That is if the wife lets me get to that price range..... If not I will be lookin for the $500 special.... Prolly PolkLsi or triangle titus
 
Mar 21, 2003 at 1:08 AM Post #20 of 36
indigosax,

I can't help myself, I've just gotta pimp for Cary.
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At your expanded price range ($1,500 US) you now get into the range of a used Cary SLI-80 integrated amplifier. It would drive the Triangle quite well, as I had discussions with Kevin Deal about buying a set for my Cary, before I ended up with a used set of Coincidents (still much more expensive that the Triangles). He seemed to think they would make a good pairing. Best of all, you've now killed the pre-amp, headphone amp, and amp, three headed beast all in one fell swoop.

Just a thought.

Good luck.
 
Mar 21, 2003 at 1:37 AM Post #21 of 36
See, this is why smokey should post more
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Mar 21, 2003 at 3:52 PM Post #22 of 36
Well.. after talking to Nick last night.. I broke doen and made the Ear+ part of the arsenal. I figure I can go out and get a McIntosh to drive the triangles and be under 1000 with a lil tube and alot of McBalls.
 
Apr 6, 2003 at 8:23 PM Post #23 of 36
Wait for headamp.com to release the gilmore V2-SA which will have a DACT volume control thing for better sound. The thing is, kevin gilmore designed the amp with Grados in mind, so you luck out.
 
Apr 12, 2003 at 2:38 PM Post #24 of 36
If you can find a stock Melos SHA Gold Reference/Maestro, untouched by MAR, and have Carlo work his magic on it, I think you would be hard pressed to find anything better without taking out a second mortgage. I've heard some very expensive, very revealing, neutral and musical preamps that I think my Melos sounds better than. Most recently I listened to a Joule Electra LA-100 mkIII and it's no contest.
 
Apr 12, 2003 at 7:42 PM Post #25 of 36
Quote:

Originally posted by Nikko
If you can find a stock Melos SHA Gold Reference/Maestro, untouched by MAR


What do you mean by this?
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I have a SHA Gold reference modded by MAR- after putting in some better tubes, sounds pretty darn good! This was modded by MAR before I got it, and I would definitely consider giving my business to Carlo from the praise that he gets here on Head-fi, but from what I've seen, MAR does nice work also!
 
Apr 14, 2003 at 1:18 PM Post #26 of 36
Most of the work I've seen by MAR is sloppy. Maybe you got lucky though and Will did a nice job on your piece. But without question Carlo does much nicer work, with better soldering, better parts throughout the whole circuit rather than just changing caps, and his prices are much more reasonable.
 
Apr 15, 2003 at 2:29 PM Post #29 of 36
Drewski....I've owned my preamp since it was new back in 1998. Since then I've dealt with Melos while they were still in business, the first incarnation of MAR (with Brant Norlund (sp?)), and the present MAR minus Brant. My comments are drawn almost six years of personal observations and from speaking with many, many people who've been burned by MAR. So please, don't take my comments personally. Carlo is the antithesis of MAR. I could spend half the day writing about people who've had equipment damaged, intentionally downgraded with inferior PCB's, checks cashed without gear shipping for months if at all...etc..etc..etc.

BTW, I don't know what kind of volume control is in your preamp but I had Carlo replace the orginal pot (it was supposed to be a photentiometer but Carlo thinks it was a plain 'ol pot), which was damaged in shipping, with a DACT CT2. Bent Audio is on the verge of releasing a remote control kit for the DACT. So if you ever need to replace your volume control you can have a high quality stepped attenuator plus the convenience of a remote with no worries about it breaking. I'm going to be testing out the remote for John Chapman, owner of Bent Audio, within the next couple weeks. Just FYI.....
 
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