Project Pre Box RS Preamplifier

[yoda900]

Had the pleasure of listening to this in my system courtesy of AlexA. Anyone looking for a small form factor pre or indeed a new pre under £600 should listen to this. It has VALVES in it too.

Do not let the size or name put you off. XLR balanced in and out. Remote volume and input selection.

Anyone with active speakers needing more than a single input this is ideal.

Slightly light and more forward than the Graaf but only a fraction of the price and that was with us deliberately looking for weaknesses. Capable of tonality, soundstaging with depth, rock solid imaging. Two hours in and still getting better so I suspect once the casework all reaches the same temp, as with the Graaf, is when it will sound at its very best.

Very well put together. Altogether far better than you might expect.

 

[Alex A]

Thanks for the opportunity to try it with your kit Mike. :^

I've had this for about a month. It replaced a Music First TVC preamp, running a pair of Event Opals. I bought it speculatively based purely on the spec, and I'm happy to report that it sounds superb in my system and drives the Opals perfectly. I was interested to see how it compared with Mike's GRAAF in a passive speaker system. It took a little while to warm up and come on song but once it had, it acquitted itself extremely well. For the money it's magnificent.

Being Pro-Ject, it's a little under the radar here. But the spec speaks for itself: Balanced (3 XLR inputs and 3SE inputs), Class A, Valve, Alps Blue pot, Remote Control. Valves are Electro Harmonix 6922. You're looking at least twice the RRP for something of equivalent spec used, or at least 4x the RRP for a new equivalent.

 

[Beobloke]

Looks impressive and very nicely built.

Shame they've put the wrong 'CE' mark on it, though. I'm sure it's not actually made in China...

 

[Bolts]

Just bought one of these in Silver to try with Event Opals - mightily impressed out of the box. As you say complete bargain.

Thanks for the lead.

Out of interest is there a significant run-in time?

I also noticed that Pro ject advertises a PSU in their catalogue - I've enquired as to the availability of this as I would be interested in giving it a try

 

[Ganders]

Interesting,that does look a bargain.I wonder,has anyone heard the matching power amps that Pro-ject make also?

 

[Alex A]

Just bought one of these in Silver to try with Event Opals - mightily impressed out of the box. As you say complete bargain.Thanks for the lead.

Out of interest is there a significant run-in time?

I also noticed that Pro ject advertises a PSU in their catalogue - I've enquired as to the availability of this as I would be interested in giving it a try

Glad you like it. :^ I'm still using mine and no inclination to look for anything else for the Opals. It's ideal for the job. I can't recall there being a long run-in, though I did let it play on repeat for a couple of days when new.

Please post an update re. the power supply availability. I've been waiting for that to come out as the standard PSU is the only 'non-premium' element of the design, so a decent linear supply could elevate it further.

 

[crimsondonkey]

As an Opal owner myself I'm watching this with just a little interest.

 

[BD Audio]

I've been championing Project RS gear for ages, its top banana!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[SSM]

Wow, that very Pro-ject was on my radar a couple of months ago.

Chuffed to learn that it's rated highly by several wammers. :^

I must reinstate it on my shopping list. It's looking like a real bargain now.

SS

ps: does its internal layout facilitate tube-rolling? Anyone tried yet?

 

[Alex A]

The valves are soldered to a small section of PCB and mounted horizontally. You could swap them out but it wouldn't be easy, and would almost certainly invalidate the Warranty. Best left alone unless/until one fails IMO.

 

[SSM]

ok thanks.

 

[Alex A]

Few internal shots for those interested:

 

[Bolts]

Had this reply from distributor - might see if I can persuade my wife to take a short break in Munich ha ha...

Thank you for your email. We're expecting to see final product samples at the Munich High-End Show in May. From this date, I expect them to be available 4-6 weeks later depending on delivery schedules.

You can register your interest with a Box Design stockist, who can help pre-order if you wish. Our Where To Buy tool can be found here... http://www.henleydesigns.co.uk/ui/dealer/dealer-search-list.aspx

NB I've had the pre on a constant loop - after 12 hours it went quite muddy - after now c 30 hours it is sounding rather wonderful.

 

[Bolts]

update: Henley Designs have also offered for me to trial one of the new PSU's when they come out - I tempted them by offering to do a quick review on the Wam

 

[hifinutt]

The valves are soldered to a small section of PCB and mounted horizontally. You could swap them out but it wouldn't be easy, and would almost certainly invalidate the Warranty. Best left alone unless/until one fails IMO.

how many hours do you think they would last , presumably one has to send back to the factory for replacement

hi fi choice did a review here

https://docs.google.com/a/interdyn.com.au/file/d/0B1-ODTJdxnndUGJEZXdOb3NJcjA/edit?pli=1

 

[Bolts]

For some reason I can't open that document - I'll try it in my PC later

 

[hifinutt]

it does say they found the soundstage limited and of course the mfa you have has a MASSIVE soundstage but then it cost 10 times as much !

 

[Alex A]

I haven't found that at all, compared with an MFA pre and a Django pre. The Pro-ject is just as good IME. HFC also point out that the power amp seems to be the limiting factor in that regard, not the Pre:

The only significant criticism I have of the Pre Box RS and Amp Box RS is that the sound stage is somewhat limited. The placement of musicians and instruments is good and smaller scale Work like the Knopfler album are generally convincing. Switch to the rather larger The Cinematic Orchestra Presents In Motion Vol 1, the spellbinding Manhatra is left lacking some of the air and space that a full orchestra needs to really shine. Removing the Pre RS from the system and connecting the CLiC directly to the Amp Box RS seems to keep this behavior in place, whereas connecting the CLiC and the Pre RS to Cambridge Audio's 851A acting as a power amp via a fixed input seemed to bypass it. This suggests that this slightly constrained performance is down to the power amp.

 

[crimsondonkey]

it does say they found the soundstage limited and of course the mfa you have has a MASSIVE soundstage but then it cost 10 times as much !

Phil, you're completely ignoring matching. The RS is an excellent match to actives due to its very low output impedance. The MFA, good as it is, is a poor match with actives and will not produce the same results.

It really annoys me when reviewers present findings as if they are somehow absolutes which will apply evenly in any context or set up. Poor and uninformed journalism in my humble opinion.