Preamp Opinions?

xlr8 wrote:Hello all,

I've been listening to my recently rebuilt 70's for awhile now and was wondering what preamps some of you were using and what your thoughts were on them. I'm currently using an Antique Sound Labs Wave in my system and am considering an upgrade. I've read a few things people have said about the kit pre's here, but wonder how they really compare to a $1000 or so comecially available pre such as Quicksilver, Mac, modded PAS-3 or the like.

Thanks in advance!

Xlr8,

Roy Mottram's SP-8SE preamp kit IMHO is probably the best under $1000 out there now. I had that preamp here for 3 weeks and ran it up against my two BAT (Balanced Audio Technology) preamps that I had here. A $3K BAT VK3i and a $6K BAT VK30SE. It was every bit as good as the BAT VK3i and acquitted itself very well against the larger BAT. The larger BAT had a little larger soundstage. Most preamp "kits" have small power transformers and weak power supplies which usually equates itself with weak bass at higher volume levels. The large torroidal power tranny in this kit can provide more than enough current when needed. Most preamp kits also don't give you a phono stage like the SP-8SE does. If you still play some vinyl now and then, with most preamp kits, you will have to buy an outboard phono stage.

RE: Upgrading a Dynaco PAS preamp. We have discussed this on one of the other threads. It usually is not cost efficient to do so. You pay $250 for the PAS-3 on Ebay and to bring it up to today's standards you can pay ANOTHER $200 - $300 for parts, new tubes etc. - AND - in doing so you may have actually devalued the preamp. If you try to sell your upgraded preamp on Ebay or Audiogon sometime down the road, people are usually suspicious of upgraded PAS-3 preamps because sometimes the upgrades may have been poorly executed. Many times an upgraded PAS-3 will sell for LESS than an original PAS-3.

Bob