Passive Pre-amp

[George 47]

To get the best out of the Nuforce currently residing chez I need a passive pre-amp. But, because one of the TD12s is nearer one of the walls (domestic harmony) I need one with a simple balance control. At the moment I have only found the Promitheus, but there must be others, possibly cheaper, with resistive components.

It is a little odd listening to a one-sided set up direct from CD to power amps, and yes I have moved my chair.

Any suggestions??

[hifi addict]

How cheap do you want george. the promethius is too cheap anyway.

I don't think you can get anything cheaper with that sort of quality.

[Effem]

Get a passive pre with dual volume controls like the Audio Synthesis Passion

[George 47]

hifi addict wrote:

How cheap do you want george. the promethius is too cheap anyway.

I don't think you can get anything cheaper with that sort of quality.

A bit of background: I am/was looking for a summer amp and liked the sound of chip amps and got tempted to try a Class D. After hearing one at Dana's I saw a 9.02 for sale and bought it. It cost about a bit above a grand.

Now I need a pre-amp with baalnce control. The Promethius offers TVCs so attracted my attention but their monos are $600 (without delivery + VAT + import duty). Now Creek do a remote control one at £399 but it is mono. NVA do a £150 one passive but again mono.

Interested by your second comment especially in view of the name of the company;)

So I am probably looking for 2 pots in box.

[George 47]

What a muppet (stop agreeing at the back there ).

NVA sell a P90.

Sneaky being on e-bay though...

[hifi addict]

Buy a pair of Stevens and Billington Attenuating transformers and stick them in a box. ot give them a call and see if they can build you a special one

[Ant]

+1 the S&Bs with two separate switches would do the trick.

[JonR]

George 47 wrote:

What a muppet (stop agreeing at the back there ).

NVA sell a P90.

Sneaky being on e-bay though...

It's his eBay Shop, George - it's the only place he you can buy his stuff from (if you're buying it new, that is).

[anubisgrau]

Ant wrote:

+1 the S&Bs with two separate switches would do the trick.

that would certainly cost a bit more than the promitheus dual mono. S&B trannies are hefty today. glory days are over.

[hifi addict]

Stevens and Billington Transformers are IMHO some of the best. Johnathan Billington Winds all the Atenuating transformers and tests them himself. Each one takes 6 hours to wind. These are definatly not mass produced.

A lot of care and attention is put into his transformers.

[anubisgrau]

hifi addict wrote:

Stevens and Billington Transformers are IMHO some of the best. Johnathan Billington Winds all the Atenuating transformers and tests them himself. Each one takes 6 hours to wind. These are definatly not mass produced.

A lot of care and attention is put into his transformers.

...and lots of hype too. i don't want to repeat what i wrote at other forums, but S&B trannies - good as they are - could be much better if less of the production compromises were involved.

to sum it: you can't have the statement TVC product with an inferior core geometry, no matter what metalurgy tricks you call for. no alloy can substite rules of physics.

and that's also why prometheus TVC sounds too close to the S&B's. notsimilar but too close considering a 1:7 price ratio or so.

[Emma Royd]

George,NVAwith do a dual volume control passive pre P90 £240.

[griffo104]

George/Ray,

Having read the ebay ads for these components it does state not to use vinyl unless you use his phono amps. Not sure if this is just scaring people in to purchasing more of his stuff or if there is actually a technical reason for doing it.

[Emma Royd]

griffo104 wrote:

George/Ray,

Having read the ebay ads for these components it does state not to use vinyl unless you use his phono amps. Not sure if this is just scaring people in to purchasing more of his stuff or if there is actually a technical reason for doing it.

I saw that Simon,it could?also be read that you need a phonostage?

Jons P50did work ok with Danas phonostage.

They also state not to use lizt type cable,that is if you use their pre/power combo only.

[JonR]

Jons P50 did work ok with Danas phonostage.

Correct. All it means is that you need to use a phono stage of some sort, but obviously if you're going to use an NVA amp then NVA would prefer that you partner it with their own stage! I will shortly be trying out the P50 with my recently purchased Cambridge 640p in my second system.

[s2000db]

JonR wrote:

Jons P50 did work ok with Danas phonostage.

Correct. All it means is that you need to use a phono stage of some sort, but obviously if you're going to use an NVA amp then NVA would prefer that you partner it with their own stage! I will shortly be trying out the P50 with my recently purchased Cambridge 640p in my second system.

It did work fine, but needed a lot more gain on the volume knob to acheive the same sound level. There's no doubt that the Project phonostage gives off less voltage than the cdp/tuner, but that might also depend on the cartridge output you're using.

George how are you getting on with the Nuforces btw?

I'm due to have a conversation with Acoustic Reality this pm, as he has offered to make me a passive preamp that will match the power amps (same case), using a Swiss type 24 step gold attenuator .. Wonder how much that will cost !

[JonR]

Sounds good, dana - would be interested to know the outcome.

[George 47]

s2000db wrote:

JonR wrote:

Jons P50 did work ok with Danas phonostage.

Correct. All it means is that you need to use a phono stage of some sort, but obviously if you're going to use an NVA amp then NVA would prefer that you partner it with their own stage! I will shortly be trying out the P50 with my recently purchased Cambridge 640p in my second system.

It did work fine, but needed a lot more gain on the volume knob to acheive the same sound level. There's no doubt that the Project phonostage gives off less voltage than the cdp/tuner, but that might also depend on the cartridge output you're using.

George how are you getting on with the Nuforces btw?

I'm due to have a conversation with Acoustic Reality this pm, as he has offered to make me a passive preamp that will match the power amps (same case), using a Swiss type 24 step gold attenuator .. Wonder how much that will cost !

I'll start another thread for some musings. Would be interested in a passive, provided it had 2 volume controls of course.

[Lawrie]

George 47 wrote:

To get the best out of the Nuforce currently residing chez I need a passive pre-amp. But, because one of the TD12s is nearer one of the walls (domestic harmony) I need one with a simple balance control. At the moment I have only found the Promitheus, but there must be others, possibly cheaper, with resistive components.

It is a little odd listening to a one-sided set up direct from CD to power amps, and yes I have moved my chair.

Any suggestions??

George,

Congratulations on your new toy. Just a bit of curiosity on my part (yes, I know what happened to that cat) but why do you think that you need a passive preamp to get the best out of the Nuforce amp? Note that I am not casting doubt on your decision. It's just that I would just like to know how you arrived at that decision if you don't mind sharing that information.




Enjoy the music™

Lawrie

[George 47]

Lawrie wrote:

George 47 wrote:

To get the best out of the Nuforce currently residing chez I need a passive pre-amp. But, because one of the TD12s is nearer one of the walls (domestic harmony) I need one with a simple balance control. At the moment I have only found the Promitheus, but there must be others, possibly cheaper, with resistive components.

It is a little odd listening to a one-sided set up direct from CD to power amps, and yes I have moved my chair.

Any suggestions??

George,

Congratulations on your new toy. Just a bit of curiosity on my part (yes, I know what happened to that cat) but why do you think that you need a passive preamp to get the best out of the Nuforce amp? Note that I am not casting doubt on your decision. It's just that I would just like to know how you arrived at that decision if you don't mind sharing that information.




Enjoy the music™

Lawrie

Lawrie,

Your questions make me nervous. Are you just curious or making a point? You know; why use a passive? or How the bloody hell could you like such a wimpy sound?



OK at face value: I got the power amps and of course need a pre-amp to hear it and had 2 options. One was to use an AudioNote M2 pre-amp (my favoured amp before listening) and the other to use the volume control built-in to the CD player. OK firstly I tried the built-in volume control. With that I get a very clean sound, with a fine filigree of detail, tight bass and great pace. The negatives are a slight compression in dynamics and a slight edge to the sound.

In with the AN: this was a much smoother and more forceful sound. It was more 3D (on everything, even flat modern recordings, but not unpleasant). The negatives are a muddiness to the sound, a loss of some details and a slightly fat (but not unpleasant) bass. The pace was slightly slower as well (but that could be the deeper bass).

Now the choice, I prefer the faster, more detailed sound. I listened again tonight and enjoyed the music so much I didn't get round to the plan to put the transparent Audio i/c in place of the virtual dynamics and try to tame the forwardness. I listened to some 60s stuff, some ABBA (for the missus) and the latest Brian Ferry with Bob Ludwig at the controls. All different with some awful 60s recording, very processed ABBA and an artificial atmosphere to the Ferry recording. But all were enjoyable and the clarity and transparency allowed me to hear how they were singing, playing etc. with the bass from the Ferry recording showing real deep power.

If I follow my normal approach I would put the ANote is for a night or two and then change back and determine which I prefer. But I keep forgetting.

Your thoughts???

Isn't 'Enjoy the Music' the preserve of Steve R; or is that you?????????????