Hi Ron,
Prior acquiring the Libra, I had the opportunity to listen to an Aries Cerat preamp in my system thanks to Flyer who is close friend and who used to be the local distributor. It was way too coloured to my taste.
[...]
[please forgive my poor English]
This is interesting.
I found it more
"colourful" indeed, life-like and "natural" than my (very good) solid state preamp, which sounded unnaturally bland in comparison, with live concerts in mind (details hereafter).
But YMMV, as they say across the Atlantic.
I am a huge fan of Thrax too ;-)
Initially, I owned a very transparent solid state YBA 1 preamplifier, with separate power supply (PS) and good phono input. It was almost by chance that I was offered to try an Aries Cerat Incito at home for a whole week (Incito non-S, embedded PS). I had very strong prejudices against tubes, which I knew little about: "rosy view" of the real thing, they sound veiled, mellow in the bass, colored, they lack of details, reliability, maintenance is a headache for a non-technician, they generate heat, warm-up is required - my YBA could be left always on -, etc. Nevertheless, I gave the AC Incito a try, just out of curiosity, being 99% sure that it was pointless compared to my YBA 1.
(I was emphatically urged by the lender to also compare the Incito with the Audio Research Ref-xx at the time (ref 5SE? ref6SE?) and a Pass XP20. It was not possible)
With the Aries Cerat Incito, I was instantly stunned by how much more direct and "life-like" the sound actually was. I was struck altogether by the enhanced presence of the instruments, the deeper, much wider soundstage, the much better dynamics, and, above all, by the much more colorful rendition indeed, which better saturated timbres, but with no exaggeration for my liking, as if they had better kept their natural "density", were better "texturized", making the whole thing sounding closer to live concerts I attend regularly. It was a bit like coming from a painted fresco with faded colors (my SS preamp), covered with age-old patina, to a scientifically restored Quattrocento fresco, with genuine and vivid colors (tube preamp). A bit like attending a concert sitting in row J of the historical, elliptical concert hall of the Fine Arts Center in Brussels (good to very good acoustics), then attending the same concert, same program (because I'm fond of it), same musicians, the day after, row J too, but in a state-of-the-art newly designed shoe-box concert hall (Namur Concert Hall, now one of the best in Europe, especially for ancient and vocal music, inaugurated in 2021, designed by people who worked on the Philharmonie de Paris). That contemporary shoe-box concert hall delivers high levels of transparency and details, but also more "timbres variety", with better density, better body, and flesh to the instruments, also on orchestral works (for instance, this was immediately obvious with the bassoon at the beginning of Mahler #1, also in Mozart violin #5 - it happened that I did that unsettling and refreshing experience; living in a country as big as confetti has some advantages: the first, elliptical concert hall is 9 metro stations ahead, the shoebox is 3 train stations ahead). In the first, historical hall by comparison, it is a bit as if timbres and "tonal density" (sorry for my English) had kind of partly "sublimated" (transition from the solid state to the gaseous state). I attended dozens of concerts in both halls now (maybe hundreds in the historical one?); the Antwerpen Elisabethzaal hall is also great btw (just don't sit too far away). These concert halls are my aural compas, especially the Namur Concert Hall and the Antwerpen hall.
By contrast, my SS YBA 1 sounded bland and "colorless" in comparison. In the first bars of the first piano sonata I heard, I had bought the Incito... I did not expect that at all initially. It transformed my humble system.
(and regarding my initial prejudices against tubes: the tubes used in the preamp last thousands of hours, and are cheap, even if they are sold as paired by the manufacturer; that tubed preamp turned out to be the most stable and reliable audio component I have ever had, nearly seven years without a single hitch).
There are also many other variables, I guess. We are all different listeners. My context is also very different: I listen much closer (mid-field) to my speakers than you (4m ?). At a much lower volume (neighbors), with a much more humble gear.
Additionally, all Aries Cerat (AC) preamps are single-ended circuits. You had Krell and Tenor Audio power amplifiers at that time, which are both fully balanced circuits. Could it be that the match may have not been optimal with a single ended AC preamp? (I read it is advised not to use ACs preamp with their pseudo-balanced outputs, if any; at least the best result should not expected that way; but I'm sure Flyer knew what he was doing when he tried AC preamp at your place)
I listened to their first, most affordable preamp; you probably heard a model which sits much higher in the range.
I also had much less requirements than you regarding functionalities (I needed neither fully balanced circuit as my amp is single ended, nor two outputs for bi-amping, nor balanced tape loop, etc). And I had much less expectations regarding quality, given my modest system (to WBF's standards at least); I actually did not expect anything at all from a toob preamplifier...Rougly, I am a much less demanding amateur.
I wish to add that I am a big Thrax admirer since I have listened to the Lyra speakers (non-SE version, which is said to be much better still). I am sure that the Lyra and the Phoenix monoblocks lead your system to new heights. The Lyra was already in your system when I heard it last year (bi-amplified with the Krells and Tenor audio, before the speaker setup made by Sterling Trayle). To me, the system at that time was already one that verged towards what I consider to be the best concert halls and seemed exceptionnally promising (as a work in progress).
Needless to say that I am eager to enjoy your very last upgrades in January (especially with that wonderful tape of the Mozart piano concerto #20, Clifford Curzon piano, conducted by Benjamin Britten, that you had played on the Studer last time; and you seem to own an even better device for tape playback now... gulp !)
